|SF 523 
.B87 
jCopy 1 



Bee=Keeping@-~ 

FOR 

■->© Beginners 



A PRACTICAL 

AND 

Condensed Treatise ^ 
<* 4 ™™* Honey-Be^ 

Giving the Best Modes of Management in 
Order to Secure the Most Profit* 

BY 

J. P. H. BROWN. 

Coyrighted. 

PRICE 50 CENTS 



* 



AUGUSTA, GA.: 

Richards & Shaver, Printer.' 

1898. 




Bee-Keeping @-~ 



-FOR- 



-©Beginners. 



A PRACTICAL 



-AND- 



Condensed Treatise «£ 
<£ S> <^P Honey-Bee, 

Giving the Best Modes of Management in 
Order to Secure the Most Profit. 

BY 

J. P. H. BROWN. 

Coyrighted. 



PRICE 50 CENTS. 



AUGUSTA, GA.: 
Richards & Shaver, Printers. 



2nd COP 
1898 




CD 







4251 






INTRODUCTION* 



I have written "Bee-Keeping for Beginners" not only 
to supply a want long- felt by the bee-keepers of the South, 
but to promote an industry that adds to the wealth of the 
country and administers to the comfort and pleasures of its 
people. 

In its preparation I have endeavored to concentrate the 
gist of the science of modern apiculture, and to embody in it 
the practical experience of thirty years as a practical bee- 
keeper. While its modes of practice and methods of 
manipulation are fully tested for the Southern bee-keeper, 
its principles can be applied and used wherever the honey-bee 

is cultivated. 

J. P. H. BROWN, 

Augusta, Ga. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 
History of Bee-Keeping — Profits and Pleasures — L,uck and 
Pluck — Requisites for Success — Bee Literature - i 

CHAPTER II. 
Varieties of Bees in the Hive — Workers, Drones and Queen- 
Undeveloped Females — Duties of Workers — Size of Worker 
Cells — L,ength of L,ife of Workers— Object of the Drones — 
L,ength of Life of Drones — Size of Drone Cells — The Queen 
or Mother Bee — Her Appearance, Sting, Size of Ovaries, and 
Difference in Size of Abdomen at Different Seasons, and 
when Placed in Different Size Colonies — Duties of Queen — 
Fertilized Eggs, Unfertilized Eggs, Number of Eggs a Queen 
I,ays, and L,ength of Time to Hatch — L,arvse, Royal Food, 
and Development of Queen— Impregnation of Queens — Par- 
thenogenesis — Spermatheca — Fertile Workers. 4 

CHAPTER III. 
Locating an Apiary— The Best Pasture— Distance Bees Can Go 
for Forage — Arrangement of Hives — Shade — How to Start 
in the Business — Mistakes of Beginners in Making Purcha- 
ses — Bee-Keeping for Invalids — Handling Bees — Protection 
Against Stings — Structure of Sting — Antidotes — How to 
Open Hives — A Good Smoker Indispensable — How to Use 
It— Disposition of Different Varieties of Bees — Iufiuence of 
Color on Temper of Bees — Eength of Tongue — Best Honey 
Gatherers 13 

CHAPTER IV. 
Hives — Patents — L,angstroth Hive — Size — Top Bars of Frames — 
Self-Spacing — Narrow Top Bars — Division Boards— Eight 
Frame Hives— Rabbetted Corners versus Dove-Tail — The 
People's Hive — Excelsior L,angstroth Hive — Paint— L,eaky 
Tops — I,oose Bottom Boards .22 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER V. page 
Swarming Instinct — Condition of Colony at Time of Swarming — 
Rearing Drones— Queen Cells— When First Swarms Issue- 
Hanging Out Not Always an Indication of Swarming — Ap- 
pearances that Indicate the Time of Swarming— When the 
Queen Comes out — Clustering — How to Prepare the Hive 
for the Swarm — Hiving — Straight Combs — How to Separate 
and Hive Swarms that Cluster Together — Balling Queens — 
Piping of Young Queens — After Swarms — How to Take 
Swarms Clustered in High Places — Absconding Swarms- 
How to Make Swarms Settle— Abnormal Swarms, and Cause 
of Their Swarming— Swarm Catchers — Ringing Bells 27 

CHAPTER VI. 

Weak Colonies— How to Dispose of Them — Uniting— When to 
Unite — Feeding and When to Feed — Cost of Feed for Winter 
Stores — How to Feed — Feeders — How to Feed a Colony in a 
Starving Condition — Stimulative Feeding — Egg Production 
and amount of Brood Influenced by the Honey Flow — Advan- 
tages of Strong Colonies Rich in Stores in Spring — Individ- 
uality of Bees — How to Make Sugar Syrup — Care Required 
in Feeding — Robbing — What Colonies Do the Robbing — How 
to Detect Robber Bees — How to Prevent — How to Arrest the 
Habit When Formed ". 36 

CHAPTER VII. 
Transferring from Box Hives Into Frame Hives — At What Time 
to Do It, and Where to Do It — Tools and Implements Re- 
quired — Transfer Sticks — How to Proceed — The Kind of 
Comb to Select — How to Get the Bees Into the New Hive — 
When to Remove the Hive to Its Stand— A Good Plan for 
Beginners 42 

CHAPTER VIII. 
What is Honey ? — Honey From Other Sources than Bloom — 
Adulterations— Do Bees Injure Fruit — Pollen and Its Uses — 
Propolis — Wax and How Formed — Comb Foundation and 
How Made — Brood Foundation, How Best to Use It and How 
to Fasten It in the Frames — Section Foundation, and How 
to Fasten It 48 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. page 
Which is the Most Profitable, to Run An Apiary for Comb 
Honey or Extracted ? — Size of Brood Chamber when Work- 
ing for Comb Honey — Ci'ate to Hold the Sections — Bee- 
Space — When to put on Sections — How to Work to the Best 
Advantage — Wide frames— What Colonies will Work in 
Sections— How to Dispose of Partially Filled sections- 
Swarming and Great Surplus Incompatible— Place to Store 
Sections that are Filled— How to Keep Out the Worms- 
Fumigation— Best Hive for Extracted Honey— When to Ex- 
tract—How to Take the Frames of Honey from the Hive- 
How to Extract— Rules to be Observed— Uncapped Brood 
Injured— Time When the Extractor Should be Used with 
Caution 55 

CHAPTER X. 
Artificial Swarming— How to Make Swarms by Division — Cy- 
prian and Syrian Bees Great Queen Cell Builders— Honey 
Production and Queen Breeding Antagonistic to Each Other 
in Practice — Which is the Most Profitable?— The Queen the 
Prime Factor in the Colony— Capable of Improvement- 
Highest Type of a Queen— Necessity for Select Breeding 
Queens and Drones— The Proper Condition of a Colony to 
Make Good Queen Cells— How to Procure the Eggs to Get 
the Larvse— The Right Stage for Use — How to Prepare it and 
Fix it in the Frame — How to Prepare the Hive — How to Get 
Bees of the Right Age to make the Queen Cells — How to 
Keep the Dates — When to Remove the Cells — How to Make 
Nuclei for the Reception of Cells — How to Insert the Cells- 
Bees Cutting Cells- How ^to Prevent— Introducing Virgin 
Queens— Howto Introduce Fertile Queens— Mailing Cages 
—Candy for Food— How Prepared 64 

CHAPTER XL 
Diseases of Bees— Dysentery— Cause— Foul Brood— Appear- 
ance— Cause— Treatment— Infection— Treatment of Infected 
Combs and Hives— Bee Paralysis— Causes— Remedies 79 

CHAPTER XII. 
Enemies of Bees — The Wax Moth — When Introduced into this 
Country— Description— Its Eggs and Larvae— Galleries and 
Cocoons- Moth Proof Hives - Mallophora— Braula Coeca^ or 
Bee House— Ants and Termites— How to Exterminate— Pro- 
tection Against Mice— Toads Depredators— Spiders— Birds. . 82 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIII. page 
Bee Pasturage — Diversity of Mellifluent Plants in the Southern 
States — How to Form an Estimate of the Honey- Value of a 
Plant— The Proper Conditions for Honey Secretion— South- 
ern Hone3'-Flora— Classed as to Value— Honey Resources of 
Florida— Honey Dew and its Formation 88 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Marketing Honey— The People must be Educated to a full Ap- 
preciation of the Uses of Honey— Strained and Extracted 
Honey— Granulation no sign of Impurity— How to Prepare 
it for Market— How to Offer it— To Whom to Ship— Glutting 
the Market 96 

CHAPTER XV. 
Uses of Honey in Medicinal Preparations, in Cooking and in the 
Arts— Remedies for Diseases of the Mouth, Throat, Bronchi 
and Eungs— Eagrippe and Colds— Receipts for Honey Cakes, 
Ginger Snaps, Cookies, Puddings, Vinegar, Metheglin, 
Mead, &c - 99 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Apiary Work Planned for the Year 105 



Bee=Keeping for Beginners. 



CHAPTER I. 

History of Bee-Keeping — Profits and Pleas- 
ures— "Luck" — Pluck — Requisites for Suc- 
cess— -Be u Literature. 

FT ROM THE FACT that the hive bee,, apis mel- 
ts HJicv, has been a subject of deep study by the 
learned in every age, and that apiculture has been 
successfully conducted by the ancients, it may sound 
strange when I assert that it has only been within 
the last fifty years that bee-culture has been developed 
into a science. Before Huber conducted his observa- 
tions in the hive, through his assistant, Burnens, the 
natural history of this wonderful little insect was very 
imperfectly understood; but since the invention of 
movable comb hives, the introduction of the Italian 
bee, honey extractors, comb-foundation, and numer- 
ous other appliances to make easy and to facilitate 
apiarian operations and observations, the economy of 
the hive is now well understood. 

Bee-keeping, when intelligently pursued, affords 
more profit in proportion to the capital invested, more 
pleasure, and a greater field for mental exercise than 
any other of the small rural industries. Poultry keep- 
ing soon becomes monotonous. It requires no great 
amount of judgment to mate up your fowls, to gath 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

the eggs, to set hens, to feed, &c. It soon centres 
down into a sort of routine task work ; but not so with 
the culture of the honey bee. Here every day gives 
rise to a new problem for your solution. Jt is one of 
nature's grand novels, where the plot is so well laid 
that the farther you read the more deeply you become 
interested in the subject. 

Bee-keeping is like any other sort of business that 
is subject to failure and success It does not follow, 
neither can it be expected, that every one who takes 
hold of it is going to make it a success. In this busi- 
ness there is no such thing as that abstract something 
called " lucky Luck in bee-culture is always meas- 
ured by "pluck," and by an observance of all those 
conditions upon which its successful prosecution de- 
pends. 

Bees can not gather honey unless there is honey in 
the flowers; and the honey secretion 1s dependent 
upon certain atmospheric conditions for its full devel- 
opment ; or, in other words, the season must be fav- 
orable for the production of a good honey crop, the 
same as a full crop of cotton, corn, oats, &c. 

While it is true that bees "work for nothing and 
• board themselves," it is also true that in order to se- 
cure the best results, it is necessary that the labor of 
these industrious insects be directed by the intelli- 
gence and apistical knowledge of the bee-keeper. No 
one can keep bees profitably without a thorough 
knowledge of the economy of the hive. He must 
know what to do, how to do, and when to do ; for 
everything pertaining to bee culture must be done just 
at the right time. 

Along with the purchase of bees, hives and supplies, 
the beginner should get books treating of the subject, 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



and should subscribe for a bee journal, and read up, 
and thoroughly study the question as he progresses. 
He will in this way combine theory and practice 
and as he proceeds will become proficient and expert 
with all details of management and manipulation, 
otherwise he will find it an up-hill business attended 
with no profit. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER H. 

Varieties of Bees in the Hive — Workers, Drones 
and Queen— Undeveloped Females — Duties 
of Workers— Size of Worker Cells — Length 
of Life of Workers — Object of the Drones — 
Length of Life of Drone — Size of Drone 
Cells— The Queen or Mother Bee— Her Ap- 
pearance— Her Sting— Size of Ovaries- 
Difference in Size of Abdomen at Differ- 
ent Seasons and When Placed in Different 
Sized Colonies— Duties of Queen— Number 
of Eggs— Fertilized Eggs— Unfertilized 
Eggs— Length of Time to Hatch— Larv^- 
Food — Development of Queens — Royal Food 
—Impregnation of Queens— Parthenogen- 
esis— Spermatheca— Fertile Workers. 

IN every normal colony there are worker bees, a 
queen or mother bee, and during the swarming 
season, more or less drones or males. 
The workers are undeveloped females with ovaries 
in an imperfect condition. They are the "bone and 
sinew" of the hive. They do all the work — gather 
the stores, clean out the hive, secrete the wax, make 
the comb, feed the young, stand guard at the en- 
trance, ventilate the hive, and when necessary defend 
their home at the risk of their lives. During the 
busy season of honey gathering, the length of life of 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS, 



a worker wiil not average more than sixty days. 
Those that pass over the winter live much longer. 
The cells in which the workers are developed are a 
trifle over one-fifth of an inch in diameter, or, they 
will average about 50 to the square inch including 
both sides of the comb. 




DRONE. 

The drones are large, lusty fellows, rather awkward 
in their movements, have great power of wing, and 
and make a loud coarse noise when they fly. Their 
primary object would seem to be to fertilize the young 
queens. They have no stings, are great cowards, and 
are not provided with any organs to gather pollen 
and honey, therefore nature never intended them to 
work in the fields. It is the opinion of many observ- 
ing apiarists, and I think they are correct, that the 
drones assist in maintaining the normal degree of 



BEE-KEEPiNG FOR BEGINNERS. 



heat of the colony, and consequently contribute to 
the curing and evaporation of the honey; but, on the 
other haud, he is a consumer of honey and not a pro- 
ducer, hence it is advisable for the bee-keeper not to 
allow too many drones in his colonies. This can be 
regulated by cutting out the drone comb and replacing 
with worker comb or foundation. 

The drone has a very precarious tenure upon life. 
In queenlesscolones or in colonies with old or defective 
queen?, he may live a whole season, while in other 
cases he may be allowed to live only a few da\s. 
When the swarming season is over, normal colonies 
destroy their drones, and cease to rear others. They 
also destroy them during a dearth of honey. Hence 
when you see the workers chasing and pulling the 
drones out of the hive, you can rest assured that 
swarming is over with that colony, at least for a 
time. 

The drones are reared in cells larger than those in 
which the workers are, and when capped over are 
much more prominent and conspicuous. They Mill 
average about thirty two to the square inch 
cou-n ting both sides of the comb. In diamerer they 
are a trifle more than one-fourth of an inch. 

The queen is the mother bee of the colony. In 
appearance she resembles a wasp more than a worker 
bee. Her abdomen is a third larger than that of the 
worker, and when her ovaries are fully developed she 
presents a graceful and majestic appearance w T hen 
crawling over the combs. She is provided with a 
sting, which presents a slight curved appearance, thus 
indicating that it was intended more for stinging rival 
queens than other objects. I have handled thousands 
of queens, but have never been stung by one. The 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



size of the queen's ovaries depends much upon the 
demand made upon them for eggs. Thus, a queen in 
a strong colony, other conditions being the same, 
looks much larger than the same queen would look, 
after a short time, if placed in a small weak colony 
where little brood could be reared. For the same 
reason the abdomen is larger in the spring during the 
breeding season than it is in the fall when breeding 
is over. 

The universe is made up of wonders. Every object 
proclaims the touch of an omnipotent hand. The 
little honey bee bears this divine impress as wonder- 
fully and as powerfully as the largest animal. When 
we trace the queen through all her stages of develop- 
ment we are most forcibly reminded of this. 

It is the mission of the queen to lay the eggs that 
are to hatch and develop into the perfect inmates of 
the hive. During the breeding season, when in a 
large colony, she lays from 2,000 to 3,000 eggs every 
twenty-four hours. Those eggs that are fertilized or 
impregnated and deposited in worker cells produce 
worker bees, and the eggs that are deposited in drone 
cells are not impregnated and hatch out drones. After 
the queen deposits the egg in the cell she devotes no 
further attention to it, and leaves it to the care of the 
workers. In three days, a little sooner if the weather 
is very warm, it hatches out a tiny little grub or larva. 
The workers stand ready at this stage to supply ic 
with a whitish gelatinous looking food which they 
abundantly deposit around it. If a w y orker larva, it 
will come forth a perfect worker in twenty-one days 
counting from laying the egg. It takes twenty-four 
days for the perfection of a drone. The time is somo- 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



what influenced by the temperature— if very warm, 
the development is slightly hastened. 

When a colony is deprived of its queen, and there 
are in the hive worker eggs or larvre not over three 
days old, the bees go to work to rear another queen 
from the just-hatched larvse. These little grubs, fed 
and nursed in the ordinary way, would develop in 
twenty-one days into common workers ; but the bees 
intend othewise. They now go to work and enlarge 
the cell around the little worm-looking mite, and fill 
up around it with the gelatinous food ; in fact, the 
embryonic insect literally floats in this substance. 

The cell is still enlarged and elongated until about 
the fifth day from the time the bees started the cell, 
it is capped over. It now presents the appearance of 
a ground-pea or goober. The transformation that 
takes place in this cell is wonderful. Under ordinary 
feeding, the grub would come forth a worker ; but by 
the great abundance of the rich food, called royal jelly, 
deposited in the cell, the anatomical structure of the 
common worker grub is changed— the abdomen is 
elongated, the ovaries are completely developed, the 
sting and mouth organs are changed, the hind legs 
have not the pollen baskets of the worker, and the 
very instincts and habits are changed from the worker 
bee. 

Instead of crawling forth a perfect worker in twenty- 
one days from the egg, she emerges forth a perfect 
queen in about twelve days from starting the cell, or 
in sixteen days from the laying of the egg. 

The approximate time occupied in the development 
of the worker, drone and queen bee is given in the fol- 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



lowiDg table, tabulated by Frank Benton, in bis work 
on "The Honey Bee" : 



EGG. 



LARVA. 



PUPA. 



FROM DE- 
POSIT OF 
EGG TO 
IMAGO. 



Queen . . 
Worker 
Drone.. 



Days. 

3 
3 

3 i 



Days. 

5. j 

5 

6 



Days. 



Days. 

13 21 

15 24 



In from six to eight days, on an average, the young 
queen will go out on her 'bridal tour," as it is termed, 
to meet the drone. One trip is usually sufficient, but 
in case she fails to meet her mate, she will go out 
again until she succeeds. When fertilized, herovaries 
commence to expand and her abdomen increases 
in size, and in from four to six days she will 
be laying. If she does not become impregnated inside 
of seventeen days, she will rarely leave the hive for 
this object after that, and will be a drone layer. Of 
course, now and then, there may be an exception to 
the rule, but all such cases of delayed fertilization are 
attended with defective ovi-production. Unimpreg- 
nated queens can lay eggs, but these unfertilized eggs 
will only hatch drones. Hence drone eggs are not 
fertilized with the male sperm. This law of partheno- 
genesis— of a virgin queen laying eggs that will hatch 
without impregnation— seems wonderful, butthesame 
law applies to some other species of insects. The fact 
was first observed and confirmed by Dr. Dzierzon, a 
celebrated German bee-keeper and scientist. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

Fig 4. 








OVARIES OF QUEEN. 

After (be queen becomes impregnated, it is for life, 
and she never leaves tbe hive unless to go out with a 
swarm. During copulation tbe male sperm~'is de- 
posited in a sac called tbe spermatheca, located on 
tbe side of the ovi-duct. Tbe male is killed by tbe act 
of copulation. ' Tbis sac contains sufficient sperm 
cells or spermatozoa to fertilize all tbe worker eggs 
that tbe queen may lay during her lifetime ; and 
whether the egg laid shall be a fertilized one to pro- 
duce a worker, or an unfertilized one to produce a 
drone, is a matter of volition of the queen. 

Sometimes in small queenless colonies there fare 
what are termed fertile workers that really do lay 
eggs that will hatch out drones, and those hatched in 
worker cells will be of small size. In such cases tbe 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



bees seem to be so intent on having a queen that some 
workers, by engorgement of food calculated to stimu- 
late the ovaries, become capable of laying eggs. These 

Fiff. 5. 




NERVORS SYSTEM OF THE BEE. 

eggs are deposited in the cells without the regularity 
of those laid by a fertilized queen. Some are placed 
here and there— lying across each other— piled on top 
of each other without order or system. In such ab- 
normal colonies there are usually more than one fertile 



12 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



worker. In appearance they can not be distinguished 
from ordinary workers. The only way to tell them is 
to catch them in the act of laying. This I have re- 
peatedly done, and have found the underside of the 
abdomen of these bees a trifle more pendulous than 
that of the common worker. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER III. 

Locating an Apiary— The Best Pasture— Dis- 
tance Bees Can Go For Forage— Arrange- 
ment of Hives— Shade— How to Start- 
Mistakes of Beginners in Making Pur- 
chases— Bee-Keeping for Invalids— Hand- 
ling Bees— Protection Against Stings- 
Structure of Sting— Antidotes— How to 
Open Hives— A Good Smoker Indispensable 
—How to Use It— Disposition of Different 
Varieties of Bees— Influence of Color on 
Temper of Bees— Length of Tongue— Best 
Honey Gatherers. 

YT7HERE are very few places in our country where 
®J[® there are no honey yielding plants. The loca- 
tion should, if possible, be near the forage. In 
our Southern country the best forage is found along 
the water courses, and in the swamps and bottoms, 
but on account of malaria that usually abounds in 
such low places it would be best to locate it on higher 
ground. One or two miles are not too far for bees to 
go for forage. I have known them to go four miles, 
but this distance is too great to enable them to store 
much surplus. 

In our climate hives should be arranged with 
special reference to shade. I prefer the shade of fruit 
trees. An arbor of the scuppernong grape vines 
makes a grand and dense shade. Other varieties of 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



grapes often shed their leaves so soon that they an- 
swer a poor purpose. For a shade tree that 'does not 
get overly large but has a close compact foliage, I can 
recommend the Caradeuc lilum. While it is a shy 
bearer, the fruit is very delicious. The Mimosa, 
Chiuaberry or Pride of India tree (particularly the 
low umbrella variety), and stercutia platanijolla 
or varnish tree, are fine for shade, for forage, and very 
ornamental. These trees are only suited for culture 
in the Southern States. The honey locust makes a 
dense shade and at the same time it is a grand honey- 
yielder. This tree grows well in the Middle States. 
Where natural shade can not be had, the next best 
shade is obtained by using pieces of boards for extra 
covers. The hives should be set with reference to 
avoid having the hot afternoon sun glaring upon the 
entrance. In fact it is best not to allow this sun to 
strike the hive at all; for nearly all the damage to 
combs by melting is caused by the sun pouring on the 
hive between the hours of 12 m. and 3 p. m. 

When starting to keep bees it is best not to com- 
mence with too many colonies. A half dozen in well 
arranged hives would be sufficient to start with. You 
must learn to handle them. Practice must be com- 
bined with theory. Then, as you gain knowledge 
you can enlarge your apiary to a profitable size. As 
knowledge in bee-culture can be conveyed and ob- 
tained more rapidly by the eye than by any other 
means, a few days spent in some well conducted 
apiary under the direction of an expert apiarist 
would be of immense benfit. 

Beginners often make great mistake* in making 
their first purchases. Instead of consulting some 
skilled, practical and reliable bee keeper as to the arti- 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



eles they need, they report to some voluminous cata- 
logue of apiarian supplies, and pick out at random 
articles that are not worth a pewter sixpence to any 
practical apiarist. Of course their money is spent to 
no purpose, and quite likely they will soon abandon 
the business in disgust. 

Bee-keeping is often recommended to invalids as a 
source of outdoor exercise. An invalid might suc- 
cessfully manage a few hives, but it requires a great 
amount of hard work to properly care for fifty or one 
hundred colonies. Opening hives, removing frames 
of comb, hunting queens, extracting honey, forming 
nuclei &c, &c, is not quite as easy as you might sup- 
pose. There is much lifting to be done, stooping over, 
and often with the hot sun pouring down upon you. 

One of the very first requisites towards successful 
bee-keeping is a knowledge of the nature and temper 
of the honey-bee, and of the means by which the in- 
sect's irascibility can be controlled. 

The bee when out foraging never acts on the offen- 
sive—always on the defensive. But when its hive is 
threatened to be disturbed, or its stores taken, or 
when excited by disagreeable odors, or by persons 
standing in its range of flight, or by striking at it, or 
pinching it, &c, its actions may be both defensive and 
offensive. Its weapon of defense is its sting, w r hich is 
located at the extremity of its abdomen. This organ 
does not consist, as many suppose, of one solid point- 
ed body, but is made up of two sections that fit closely 
together along their edges, while there is a groove 
running along their inner side through which the 
poison is injected. The sting is enclosed in a sheath 
when not in use. Its extremity is barbed, which 
causes it to stick fast in the object stung. The bee 



16 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



can only release itself by the sting pulling out of its 
body, along with comes the poison sac and usually 
some of the intestines. Hence this insect gives also 
its life along with the blow it strikes. 

Fig. 6. 




Fig 6. shows the sting and its parts. C. is the poison sac. U. sheath. 
A. sting proper. B. B. Transverse section of sting. Fig. 7. Barbs of 
sting very greatly magnified. 

When stung, the sting should be immediately re- 
moved, or the strong muscles that drive it and still 
adhere to its base, will force it deeper into the wound. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 17 



It should always be scraped out with a dull knife, and 
not pulled out with the thumb and finger which 
would squeeze the sac and inject more poison. When 
I am stung I do not wait for the blade of a knife to 
remove the sting, but I rub it out with my hand, or 
if stung on the hand I pass it quickly against a corner 
of the hive. 

In many cases the sting of a bee is attended with 
much pain and swelling; while in others there are no 
ill affects produced whatever. 

There is no doubt that the system can soon become 
inured, as it were, to the poison so that no bad effects 
are produced. The writer well recollects the time 
when a bee-sting was very painful to him, and was 
always attended with much pain and swelling; but 
now he would rather at any time be stung by a bee 
than be pricked by a thorn. 

Many remedies have been suggested for stings, and 
while they all may do good in some cases, in others 
they fail. As formic acid is the principle constituent 
of the poison it seems that those remedies that con- 
tain an alkali, such as ammonia, soda, &c, prove 
effacacious. An application of the tincture of iodine 
to the wound is said to afford great relief. A contin- 
ued application of cold water to the part stung is 
most excellent, and usually prevents the pain and 
swelling. It can be applied to the part by a wet 
towel or by pouring from a pitcher. 

While it is impossible to work much among bees 
and never get stung, it is also possible, in most of 
cases, to keep them "peaceably inclined," so that 
stings need be "few and far between." One person 
possesses no more "charms" in handling bees than 
another, if the same laws and rules are observed. 

(2) 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



Nevertheless, the odour or emanations from the 
bodies of some persons seem to be mere disagreeable 
or exciting to them than those of others. 

In all our operations with our bees we must use 
gentleness. All quick sudden jars and motions irri- 
tate them. So does breathing on them. Bees are 
always more gentle and less inclined to sting when 
they are gathering honey ; and at such times hives 
can be opened with very little danger ; whereas when 
a dearth of honey prevails the inmates of the same 
hive might show a great spirit of resentment. I have 
observed that color exerts some influence on the tem- 
per jof this insect. I have found that dark shades of 
clothing, particularly red, are more distasteful to them 
than white. Hence when working among them I 
always go iu shirt sleeves or in light colored clothes. 

When opening a hive always stand on the side 
opposite to the wind, and never in front of the en- 
trance. It is bee-nature, that when alarmed, for the 
insect to take to its stores and gorge itself with honey. 
When in this condition they never sting unless struck 
at or squeezed. Most writers tell us that this engorge- 
ment of the honey sac soothes the anger of the insect 
and makes it peaceable. While this is partly true, in 
the main it is incorrect. When the honey receptacle 
is engorged, the abdomen is much distended, which 
deprives the bee of making the necessary muscular 
action of this portion of the body in order to bring 
the sting into a proper position for a thrust. 

Before you start to open a hive it is necessary that 
you go prepared. I advise a bee- veil for a protection 
to the face, but it is best to have the hands unprotected, 
as gloves are much in the way in handling the frames. 
Rubber gloves are hot and retain the perspiration ,* 



BEE KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



besides, the propolis on the frames soon softens the 
rubber and destroys them. Woolen gloves covered 
on the back of hand and fingers with white muslin or 
homespun answer a pretty good purpose. In order to 
guard against bees crawling up the arms and legs, it is 
best to confine the sleeves at the wrist with elastic 
bands, and to pull the socks over the bottom of pants. 
It is best not to work among bees after dark, for then 
they can not see to fly, and "are great at" crawling, 
and will poke their "noses" in every little opening 
about the clothing. 

A good smoker is indispensable. See that it is in 
good order. When the fuel in it is well ignited 




Fig. 8. 
Direct-Draft Perfect 

BINGHAM 

Bee Smoker 



approach the hive and blow a few whiffs of smoke in 
at the entrance. Wait a minute, then blow in a little 
more smoke until the bees set up a sort of roaring 



20 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



noise. Then gently. commence to open the hive, and 
if the bees show a desire to come up, blow a little more 
smoke over the tops of the frames, which will run the 
bees back. Bees can be smoked too much, particu- 
larly when queens are to be found. Just how much to 
give depends upon the humor and disposition of the 
insect ; as a general thing, Hybrids, Syrians and Cyp- 
rians require more smoke to subdue them than blacks, 
Carniolans and Italians. Italians are the most easily 
handled. When using smoke care should be taken not 
to run the bees off the combs. Blacks and Syrians are 
easily run off to the sides of the hive, or will collect in 
a pendulous mass on the edge or corner of a frame that 
is being handled, and will possibly loose their hold 
and drop at your feet, which is not very pleasant to 
the operator. Cyprians can stand a broadside of 
smoke unflinchingly, and will only yield after con- 
tinued blasts. When a bee gets under the clothes, 
give it room and do not crowd it, and it will make for 
the light and crawl out without offering to sting. 

There are quite a number of varieties of apis rnilli- 
Jica, among which I may name the black bee, which 
is the most common. This variety was introduced, it 
is said, into Pennsylvania from Germany about the 
year 1627, and was transported to South America in 
1845. The Italian, Cyprian, Syrian, Egyptian, Car- 
niolan, &c, are also only varieties, and are undoubt- 
edly of common origin. For beauty, honey gathering 
capacity, docility, and most desirable qualities, the 
Italian is to be preferred. In cultivating any of these 
breeds of bees, there is a continual, though slight dis- 
position to sport from a precise standard of physical 
and psychical characteristics to an assumption of 
some of the peculiarities of some other breed. Thia 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



seems to be a rule attending the breeding of all cattle, 
horses, sheep, swine, and fancy breeds of poultry, that 
lack that fixedness and individuality of character 
sufficient to stamp such breeds as a distinct species. 

The Cyprian, Syrian and Egyptian bees are very 
excitable varieties, and are great fighters and swarm- 
ers, and are therefore not desirable. 

From a series of experiments that I conducted with 
delicately adjusted instruments a few years ago with 
a view to ascertain the length of tongue of the dif- 
ferent varieties of the honey bee, I found that the 
Cyprians and Italians had the longest tongue, and 
I practically found them the best honey gatherers in 
my apiary. 



22 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Hives— Patents— Langstroth Hive— Size— Top 
Bars of Frames— Self-Spacing— Narrow 
Top Bars— Division Boards— Eight-Feame 
Hives— Rabbetted Corner Versus Dove- 
tail—The Peoples' Hive— Excelsior Lang- 
stroth Htve— Paint— Leeky Tops— Loose 
Bottoms. 

IT is not the province of this little book to go into 
the history of bee hives, nor to enter into the details 
of their manufacture, for at this date there is so 
much competition in the manufacture of bee-keepers' 
supplies that hives can be purchased either set up or 
in the flat much cheaper than a bee-keeper could 
afford to make them himself. 

Many years ago the Rev. L. L. Langstroth took 
out a patent on a bee hive which covered all the val- 
uable features that a hive could possess. This patent 
is now public property. Since then hundreds of 
patents have been issued on bee hives, but their 
claims, in the majority of cases, have been for some 
little contrivance devoid of value to any practical bee- 
keeper. 

Many modifications have been made of the Lang- 
stroth hive. The frame used by Mr. L., was 17f 
long by 9^ inches deep; a size that seems to give the 
most general satisfaction, particularly in the South. 
In this climate a deeper frame is not desirable for 
many valid reasons. The top bar of the Langstroth 



BEE-KEEPING FT)R BEGINNERS. 23 

frame is | inches wide, while the distance between 
the centre of one comb to the centre of the other is 
near lfa inches; this necessitates the spacing of 
these frames with the fingers. In this way they often 
get too near together, or too wide apart, particularly 
at the ends, and the result is crooked comb. 
Fig. 9. 



EXCELSIOR Tj ANGSTROM HIVE AND 
FRAME. 

In 1870 I adopted a frame with the ends of the top 
bar 1 T % inches wide and close fitting. This frame I 
have used ever since and it gives great satisfaction, 
as it perfectly spaces the combs. Since then the same 
style of close-end top bar, with a partial closed end of 
frame, has been offered to the publio as the Hoffman 
frame. There is another style of Hoffman frame 
irfanufactured with the top part of ends close-fitting 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



and a narrow top bar. This style I do riot use, nor 
recommend. 

Some bee-keepers contend for a top bar If- inches 
wide at ends, but this gives rather too little bee-space 
between the combs. 

With the close end top bar frames it is necessary to 
have some little space on the side of hive to remove 
them. To secure this room, some use a division board 
held by a wedge on the side of the hive. 1 formerly 
used this board myself, but it proved very unsatisfac- 
tory from the fact that it affords a harbor for spiders, 
roaches ond other vermin . I find those with a bee- 
space at the bottom and ends the least objectionable. 
I nail a narrow top bar to this board and it hangs in 
the hive as a dummy frame. 

A hive holding nine or ten frames is the best. Nine 
frames may be best suited for most of localities. An 
eight frame hive is most too small. If the queen is a 
good layer she soon crowds the hive and there will be 
too much swarming, and consequently too little sur- 
plus honey. 

Fig. 10. 



AN EIGHT-FRAME HIVE WITH SELF- 
SPACING FRAMES. 

A nine-frame hive arranged like the People's Hive, 
with surplus department, and cover proof against 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



leaks, has more advantages and fewer objections than 
any other. It can be run for either comb or extracted 
honey ; and the section crates will admit of taking 
sections of different widths. 

Fig. 11. 




THE PEOPLE'S HIVE. 

If the apiary is to be run exclusively for extracted 
honey, a ten or twelve-frame hive can be used to ad- 
vantage. The Excelsior Langstroth hive is one of 
this description. It holds ten frames in the lower 
story and the same number can be used in the second 
story, and admits of tiering up one story on top of 
another. 

It is necessary for hives to be well put together in 
order to stand the continued warm sun of a Southern 
climate. If not well nailed at the joints they will 
warp and open. The very best joint is one that is 
rabbeted and nailed both ways. Such joint is prefer- 
able to the locked or dove-tail. Unless kept well 



26 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

painted, wood rots quicker in a warm climate than 
it does in a cold one. 

There is a great diversity of opinion among apiarists 
i n regard to the advantages and disadvantages of 
fixed or loose bottom boards. The advocates of loose 
bottoms contend that they are more easily cleaned. 
This may be correct ; but fixed bottoms are the best 
for a warm climate, and for large apiaries where mov- 
ing hives is frequently required. 

Tops of hives unless covered with tin or some metal 
will be certain to leak after a few years of exposure to 
the weather. 

As an object for amusement and pleasure, I would 
recommend an observation or uni-comb hive that con- 
tains a single comb with glass on both sides, protected 
by movable sides or doors. By this arrangement all 
the movements of the queen and bees can be seen. 
You can see the queen deposit her eggs, the workers 
unload themselves of honey and pollen, &c. This 
hive will hold a small colony that will carry on all 
the operations of a large one. The hive can be placed 
on tha piazza, or in some shady nook or recess, or in 
a room, and the bees allowed to pass out and in 
through a tube in the wall. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER V. 

Swarming Instinct— Condition of Hives— Rear- 
ing Dronp:s— Queen Cells- When First 
Swarms Issue— Hanging Out Not Always 
an Indication of Swarming— Appearances 
That Indicate the Time of Swarming— 
When the Queen Comes Out— Clustering — 
How to Prepare the Hive for the Swarm 
Hiving— When to Put on the Sections- 
Straight Combs— How to Separate and 
Hive Swarms that Cluster Together— 
"Balling" Queens — Piping of Young Queens 
—After Swarms- -How to Take Swarms Clus- 
tered in High Places— Clipping Queens 
Wings — Absconding Swarms— How to Make 
Swarms Settle — Abnormal Swarms — Cause 
of their Swarming— Swarm Catchers— 
Ringing Bells. 

TT7HE instinct to swarm seems to be a desire im- 
©j® planted in the bee to propagate and distribute its 
race. Wherever the honey-bee is cultivated the 
swarming season is of intense interest to the bee-keeper. 
The cry of " bees swarming /" with the old time bee- 
master, was attended with great excitement. It excited 
the old and the young — the cat and the dog — out come 
the tin pans the horns and the bells. It was beat, 



28 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



rattle and toot, until the circling, buzzing, roaring 
insects settled. 

In the spring when bees are breeding rapidly and 
honey iscoming in plentifully, the hive becomes very 
populous, and they make preparations for swarming 
long before the swarm issues. They rear drones with 
a view to secure the fertilization of the young queens. 
Usually after drones are hatched and flying, and 
drone larvae capped over, they commence to construct 
queen cells. After the first queen cells are capped, if 
the weather is favorable, a swarm may issue. First 
swarms generally come out in the forenoon, but in 
case the forenoon should be unfavorable, and they 
should be ready to issue, they might venture out in 
the afternoon. In these matters bees do not always 
follow an invariable rule as many suppose. For 
instance, there are generally plenty of drones flying 
before the appearance of a swarm ; but I have known 
swarms to issue when the drone brood was only capped 
over. Hanging out is not always an indication that 
the bees are going to swarm. They frequently hang 
out when they are building comb and rapidly storing 
honey. Weak and demoralized colonies frequently 
hang out, and have all the appearance, to a novice, of 
an over-crowded hive. Too much heat inside may 
cause them to hang out. 

The bee-keeper can not always tell the day the col- 
ony is going to swarm by simply looking at the hive; 
but generally if watched on the morning of the day 
it is going to cast a swarm, he will find a great many 
bees flying with their heads toward the en- 
trance, and will pass in and out, not like the work- 
ers going to forage, but showing anxiety and a dispo- 
sition to hurry up the event. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



Just before the departure of the swarm the whole 
colony is greatly excited. The hive seems to be 
all confusion, bees scampering in all directions 
over the combs, and filling themselves with 
honey — now there is a rush for the entrance— old and 
young — out they come, pell-mell, tumbling over each 
other, and then circling in the air with a loud roaring 
noise. The queen may be among the last to get out 
(particularly if she is an old one) ; and often comes 
out, as it were, reluctantly. The workers are the mov- 
ing spirits in the matter. The idea that the queen 
leads the swarm is not correct. 

After whirling around for some time they will gen- 
erally settle at some place in a cluster. If the queen 
is old, or heavily laden with eggs, they usually settle 
on some low object like a bush, vine, &c. ; but if the 
queen is a young one the swarm may settle at a more 
elevated place. 

In case the queen does not come out with the bees, 
or they fail to find her, they will return to the hive 
to come out at another time. When the bees com- 
mence to settle you should map out in your mind how 
you are to proceed in hiving them. Procure your 
hive and prepare it ready for their reception. Go to 
the parent hive and take out a frame of brood 
(see that no queen cells are oh it), and place it in the 
new hive. Take out a frame to make room. This 
frame can be placed in the old hive in place of the 
one removed. I would advise filling every other 
frame in the new hive with sheets of foundation. 
When arranged thus, it is not so apt to sag and break 
down by the weight of the bees. Tack a cloth to the 
edge of the alighting board for a smooth roadway for 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



the bees into the hive. Aboard, if carefully set up 
will answer for the cloth . 

Before you proceed to hive the bees, sprinkle the 
cluster well with water, which you can do with a 
small broom if they are within reach ; but if the clus- 
ter is high up, put a rose-nozzle on a fountain pump 
and spray them. This is an instrument that all bee- 
keepers should possess ; it answers an excellent pur- 
pose for extinguishing incipient fires, watering 
plants, &c. 

If you can not shake the bees directly in front of 
the hive, procure a tin bucket and a cloth ; and with 
a whisk broom brush or shake the bees into the bucket ; 
quickly throw the cloth over it and carry it to the 
hive and tumble them into the hive by first removing 
the cover, or pour them out in front of the entrance. 
If the bees are slow to crawl in the hive, take a tuft 
of grass, a youag sprout, or a long handle spoon and 
stir them toward the entrance. Make them run in 
lively. Allow no clustering on the outside of the 
hive— brush them toward the entrance. When the 
queen goes in the rest will march in like a flock of 
sheep into the fold. After the great bulk of the swarm 
is in, you can carry the hive to the place you intend it 
to stand. This is better than waiting till evening, as 
is often done. What few bees are out foraging will 
either find the new location or return to the old hive. 

When preparing your hive for the swarm, if you 
want the bees to confine themselves at first to the 
brood frames in the lower story, cover the tops of the 
frames securely with a cloth and over this place the 
cap or cover. Do not put on the sections or second 
story, otherwise they might go up into the top of the 
hive and commence operations. I have known them, 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



owing to a want of care in confining to the lower 
story, to do this. In two or three days after the bees 
are hived, they should be looked at to see if they are 
making their combs straight in the frames. Straight 
combs are essential in every well-conducted apiary. 
When you find the bees not making them straight 
with the comb guide, you must press them in line It 
may be necessary to cut some points loose with a 
knife and secure them with transjer-sticks, as done in 
transferring. At this time place on your sections and 
give the bees access to them. 

Sometimes several swarms may cluster together, and 
you may want to divide them . In such a case, pre- 
pare as many hives as swarms, and place them within 
easy reach of the cluster. Place an assistant at the 
entrance of each hive. After sprinkling the cluster, 
proceed with a long-handle dipper to dip it full of bees 
from the cluster, and pour in front of one of the hives; 
then a dipper full in front of another, and so on until 
you get them equally divided. Your assistants must 
have each a queen cage at hand and look out for the 
queens, and see that only one goes into a hive. If 
more than one is placed before the hive, she must be 
caged and given to the hive that is queenless. In case 
several queens should get in the* same hive, one will 
get killed, and sometimes I have known both to get 
"balled" to death by the bees. 

Bees have a strange way of getting rid of strange or 
objectionable queens. They collect around her in an 
angry mass, forming a ball or cluster, with the poor 
queen in the center, and bite her wings and pull her 
legs until they worry her to death. If -you wish to 
release the queen from the angry bees, the safest plan 
is to drop the ball of bees into a basin of water. When 



32 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



they turn loose, you can pick out the queen. Smoke 
often makes them more angry. If you use smoke to 
disperse them, rapidly blow a large volume of it upon 
the cluster, and as soon as they scatter, pick up the 
queens. When the queens are valuable and the bee- 
keeper is unwilling to take any risk, he had better put 
them in introducing cages, and only release them after 
the bees settle down to business. 

In about six or eight days after the first swarm is- 
sues, a second swarm may come out with a young 
queen recently hatched. Sometimes when several 
queens are hatching at the same time, they make a 
peculiar sound called "piping." The noise is like the 
"peep" of a young chicken, and sometimes can be 
very distinctly heard if the ear is placed against or 
near the hive on the evening of the day before the 
departure of the swarm. One "peep" is a little 
coarser than the other, and is a reply to that made by 
a rival queen. 

A third and even a fourth swarm frequently come 
outwithiu a day or two of each other. All swarms 
after the first are called "casts/' and should be dis- 
couraged by the bee-keeper, as they often leave the 
old colony in such a poor condition that it often fails 
to secure enough honey to winter on. One swarm 
from a colony is sufficient ; best to return such swarms 
to the parent colony. All swarms after the first have 
young queens, and as such queens are not very mat- 
ronly or steady, but good flyers, the swarms may be 
slow to cluster, and settle in elevated places. In such 
cases, resort to the small fountain pump ; and if the 
cluster is too high to reach, and the object they are on 
cannot be removed, you can dislodge them and collect 
them in a bag prepared as follows : Take a bag or 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



sack and sew an iron boop (a keg hoop will answer) 
around the mouth so as to keep it distended. Get a 
pole sufficiently long to reach the bees ; saw a kerf in 
the upper end deep enough to admit the hoop ; crowd 
your hoop into it. Of course, the hoop will be at right 
angles with the pole and the mouth of bag open. Now 
take the pole with the bag, and place the mouth of 
the bag immediately under the cluster, then with the 
end of the pole give the limb a good solid lick, which 
will shake the bees into the bag. Immediately lower 
the pole, which will also close the mouth of the bag. 
Shake the bees out in front of the hive. The first 
time you may not get all the bees ; repeat the opera- 
tion until you secure the bulk of the swarm. 

Sometimes a swarm may abscond and take to the 
woods in spite of all you can do. Casts are more apt 
to abscond than first swarms. Quite a number of 
observing bee-keepers contend that bees often send 
out runners or scouts to secure and prepare a place for 
the swarm days before it issues In my experience, I 
have never had any observations that would confirm 
or reject such conclusions; and I have no right to dis- 
believe them; but I am pretty certain that the major- 
ity of absconding swarms fail to observe these precau- 
tions and are not so provident. Swarms that are slow 
to settle, and show a disposition to abscond may often 
be brought to cluster by throwing fine dirt in front of 
them. The reflected light thrown among them from 
a mirror is said to settle them; also the firing of a 
gun. These remedies I have never tried. 

Clipping the wings of queens is practiced by many 
bee-keepers in order to prevent swarms from abscond- 
ing, and to facilitate in operation in the apiary. This 
clipping is not to be resorted to until after the queen 

(3) 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



is fertilized and becomes an established layer. To 
perform this operation, the queen should be held by 
the thorax, between the thumb and fore finger of the 
left hand, and about one-third or one-half of one large 
or primary wing on one side cut off with a sharp 
pointed scissors. Do not hold the queen by the abdo- 
men. There are objections to clipping. Clipped 
queens, say nothing of the disfigurement, are liable 
to get lost in the grass when they come out of the 
hive; besides, when they get on the ground, they are 
liable to get devoured by ants. Hence it is necessary 
to be on the look out for such occurrences. 

Newly hived swarms frequently refuse to stay in a 
hive because it is too hot. The empty hive should be 
kept in the shade, and should be clean and cool when 
the swarm is put in it, and then it should be protected 
from the rays of the sun. When the inside of the 
hives becomes too hot, the bees can not build comb, 
and must hang out. 

Abnormal swarms are those that desert their hives 
because the bees become demoralized or discouraged 
for want of stores, have too few bees, &c. Weak colo- 
nies in early spring frequently swarm out, and desert 
their brood, even when they have some stores. Hence 
in such cases it would seem to be demoralization. 
You may hive them, but they will swarm out again, 
probably the same or next day. Your only way to 
treat such swarms is to unite them with some other 
weak colonies. Such demoralized bees often get angry 
at their queen if she refuses to accompany them, and 
will ball her to death. 

To save swarms that may issue when we can not 
be watching for them, contrivances called "swarm- 
catchers" and "hivers" have been invented that seek 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 35 

to direct the queen, after she gets out of her hive, into 
an empty one placed in close proximity to the full 
one. Were all queens alike in size they could be more 
easily and more certainly controlled by slots, perfor- 
ated zinc, &c, but some queens that are very prolific 
are of small size, and could pass an opening that would 
admit a worker bee. 

The practice of ringing bells, beatings pans, &c, to 
make swarms settle is a very old but useless custom. 
It does no good, for they would settle of their own ac- 
cord. The custom originated in the old country, 
where there was a law that required you to make a 
noise in order to notify your neighbors that your bees 
were swarming, otherwise if the swarm settled on your 
neighbors' possessions you could not claim it. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Weak Colonies— How to Dispose of Them— 
Uniting— When to Unite— Ff:eding- When 
to Feed— Cost of Feed for Winter Stores- 
How to Feed— Feeders— How to Feed a Col- 
ony in Starving Condition Stimulative 

Feeding— Egg Production and Amount of 
Brood Influenced by Honey Flow— Advan- 
tages of Strong Colonies Eich in Stores 
in Spring— Individuality of Bees— How to 
Make Sugar Syrup — Care Required in Feed- 
ing—Robbing—What Colonies Do the Rob- 
ring— How to Detect Robber Bees— How 
to Prevent— How to Arrkst the Habit 
When Formed. 

IT does not pay to attempt to carry weak colonies 
over the winter, because after feeding dollars worth 
of sugar to them they would probably either swarm 
out or perish before April. Unite as many of these to- 
gether as required to make a fair colony. If there is 
any choice in queens, preserve the best. In order to 
guard against the bees killing her, she had better be 
caged. Select for use the best of the combs, the nicest 
and straightest, and the ones that contain the most 
stores, brood, &c. Smoke both sets of bees until they 
set up a roaring sound, and then proceed to carefully 
lift out the frames of the hives with the adhering bees 
and place them alternately in the hive selected. Shake 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 37 



the bees off the extra combs that you cannot use in 
front of the hive, and they will enter all right. It is 
always best to make all such unions late in the even- 
ing after sun down ; then they unite peaceably, with 
no extra flying, and no danger of robbers. To assist 
them to mark their new home, set a board up in front 
of the entrance, or place a few weeds up in front until 
they adapt themselves to the new order of things. 

There are many times when it is necessary to feed 
bees in order to save them from starvation, to build 
them up, or to promote their breeding. Unless feed- 
ing is conducted with judgment, and done at the 
very time needed, the sugar syrup and the labor are 
often as good as thrown away. An averaged size col- 
ony that is deficient in stores in October will require 
fully two dollars worth of granulated sugar to carry it 
over the winter till the first of tne following April, 
or until the bees can gather plentifully from natural 
sources. 

Fall feeding should be done rapidly, and in as large 
quantity as the bees can take up at a time. Always 
place the feed inside the hive. When placed outside, 
it frequently leads to robbing, a demoralized condi- 
tion more easily prevented than cured. If the nights 
are warm enough to allow the bees to crawl to the 
sides of the hive, use a feeder that can be attached to 
the side or end of the hive and pour in a pint or a 
quart at night. This feeder is very convenient. It is 
screwed to the hive on the outside — the feed is poured 
in from the top — no opening of the hive or disturbing 
the bees in the least. The bees pass to the feed from 
the inside of the hive through holes in the hive and 
corresponding ones in the feeder. 

If the weather is too cold for bees to fly out, place 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



the feed under the quilt over the cluster so they can 
readily get it. For feeding over the cluster, I prefer 
an atmospheric feeder with a perforated lid through 
which the bees suck the feed. When applied to the 
hive, the lid is turned down over the cluster. The 
objections are to this feeder; the bees have to be dis- 
turbed more or less every time they are fed. 

In cases of emergency a feeder may be improvised 
out of a quart fruit can. Cut off the top, and place 
in the can a dozen or so of small sticks for floats 
and supports for the bees to keep them from drown- 
ing and falling in the syrup. Nice clean shavings 
make good floats. 

When the colony is in a starving condition, and the 
bees are only able to crawl, they can best be fed by 
filling a frame of comb with the feed and placing it 
gently in the middle of the cluster. The comb can 
easily be filled by pouring a small stream from the 
spout of a coffee-pot into the cells. In very early 
spring we may sometimes find a colony of bees ap- 
parently dead, but when the hive is carried into a warm 
room the bees will gradually revive. Hence never be 
too fast to condemn bees in this condition. 

Many good bee-keepers recommend feeding in the 
spring to promote breeding. The object is to excite 
the queen to increase egg-production. This function 
of the queen is aways governed in a great measure 
by the honey-flow. When the workers commence to 
gather honey in the spring the whole hive becomes 
infused with activity, the eggs in the queen develop 
rapidly, and she deposits them in a corresponding 
ratio; but when there is a dearth of honey, egg-pro- 
duction is checked, and there is less brood reared. 

As regards the matter of young, there is more wis- 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



dom displayed by the honey-bee than by the human. 
These insects regulate the amount of brood by their 
ability to sustain and take care of it, but with man- 
kind the number of children is greater among the poor 
than among the rich. 

The object, therefore, of early spring feeding is to 
stimulate the bees to greater activity, and to deceive 
the queen into a belief (so to speak) of a honey-flow. 
When this sort of feeding is started, it must be kept 
up till the bees can gather plenty of honey from nat- 
ural sources, for it leads to a great amount of brood 
which would perish if the feeding be left off without 
any other supplies at hand. 

If your colonies are strong and go into winter quar- 
ters, as they should, with from 25 to 30 pounds of 
honey, this stimulative feeding is not necessary. All 
you have to do is to uncap the honey in an outside 
frame, and they will remove and deposit the honey at 
such points where they most need it. It must be ob- 
served that bees have an individuality of their own, 
and they generally know best how and where to de- 
posit their stores, how much brood they can take care 
of, when they want to rear drones, etc. It is left for 
man to assist and guide their instincts to administer 
to his benefit. 

For feeding I use a syrup made by adding one gal- 
lon of water to fifteen pounds of granulated sugar. I 
have never know T n syrup made from this formula to 
granulate in the cells. All danger from granulation 
can be prevented by adding to it two or three pounds 
of honey. For spring feeding it can be made a little 
thinner than for use in winter. Always use granu- 
lated sugar if you can get it, for most all the brown 
sugars are adulterated with glucose, a vile preparation 



40 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



which makes it objectional for winter feed. In fact, 
40 to 50 per cent, of glucose can be added to brown 
sugar (and the light shades), aod the ordinary con- 
sumer cannot detect it. You can use honey for feed 
by adding one part of water and thoroughly mixing. 
When feeding, always use great care not to spill ahy 
feed about the hive, or allow vessels containing it to 
stand near, for all sweets attract the bees, and may 
lead to robbing and to a demoralization of the whole 
apiary. Thieving hives of bees are as hard to control 
as human thieves ; and when this habit is once con- 
tracted, it causes the bee-keeper an immense amount 
of work to control it. It is not always the poorer col- 
ony robbing the richer one, but more frequently it is 
the strong colonies robbing the wesker ones. Robber 
bees can always be told from those that have been out 
honestly foraging by the peculiar manner in which 
they approach a hive. Like sneak thieves, they go 
cautiously with their heads toward the hive, looking 
for a hole to enter. They will alight at the entrance, 
and then dart back as if afraid to enter, particularly 
if there are guards stationed there. But if the en- 
trance is not securely guarded, they will finally pass 
in, and when once loaded with stolen honey, they 
will pass out and make for their own hive. The bees 
belonging to the hive would come m loaded and not^o 
out! oaded. The colony attacked at first may show some 
resistance, but as the number of robber bees increase, 
they give up, and frequently will join the robber force 
to the destruction of the colony. You cannot well ar- 
rest the evil until you know the hive from which the 
robbers come. To be certain, sprinkle some flour on 
the bees passing out of the attacked hive, and have 
assistants to w r atch the entrance of the other hives, 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 41 



and the white-coated thieves can be seen entering 
their hives. When you have found them, smoke them 
thoroughly in order to alarm them, and to check for 
the time being their outside operations, and to impart 
to them the odor of smoke, which will be distasteful 
to the inmates of the attacked hive. Contract the en- 
trance to the robbed hive so that only one bee can 
pass at a time ; and set up weeds', grass or boards in 
front to obstruct the passage way. Robber bees dis- 
like winding entrance ways. Tap a little now and 
then on the hive to anger the bees and to get them 
in fighting trim ; but some times they become so dis- 
couraged that they loose all desire to defend their 
home. They nearly always become thus when the 
robbers have taken all their stores. The only remedy 
in such cases is to close up the entrance to the weak 
hive with wire cloth and carry it into a cool dark room, 
like a cellar ; feed ; allow it to remain forty-eight 
hours, and then remove it to a new stand taking the 
precaution to protect the entrance as previously 
directed. If the hive is still robbed, you had better 
unite the bees with the dishonest colony. In case 
where the robbers would attack in force, I have found 
it of great advantage to spray them well with a foun- 
tain pump. 

When bees are gathering honey plentifully from 
natural sources there is no danger from robbing, but 
when there is a dearth of honey the prudent bee 
keeper must use every precaution when opening hives, 
and must not expose framesof comb containing honey 
to strange bees. Contract the entrances to all weak 
colonies and place some obstructions in front. An 
ounce of prevention in this matter is worth more than 
a pound of cure. 



42 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Transferring From Box Hives Into Frame 
Hives— At What Time to Do It— Whereto 
Do It — Tools . and Implements Required — 
Transfer Sticks— How to Proceed— The 
Kind of Comb to Select— How to Get the 
Bees in the New Hive— Where There are 
Many Colonies to Transfer— Whbn to Re- 
move the New Hive to its Stand— A Good 
Plan for Beginners. 

rT is often necessary to transfer bees and combs from 
old box hives, &c, into frame hives. This is a very 
simple operation, though laborious. The inexpe- 
rienced should never perform this operation out of 
doors except at times when there is a honey-flow ; for 
if done when the bees are not gathering, the trans- 
ferred colony would incur the risk of being captured 
by robbers. 

In order to secure both increase and surplus honey 
from the transferred colony, the operation should be 
performed as early in the spring as practicable. The 
expert can transfer at any time in the year when the 
bees can fly, but the tyro had better wait till about 
the time of the apple bloom. 

I prefer to make my transfers in a close room with 
one window. Where there are more windows they 
can be shaded. There must be no place for bees to 
get out, nor place for strange bees to get in. In this 
room I want a table, a small box without top, a 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



43 



hatchet, cold chisel, saw, a loog-bladed knife, a bucket 
of water, a basin and a towel. In front of the window 
set yonr new hive with the frames removed, and the 
entrance raised an inch higher than the back, so as 
to prevent any drip of honey from running toward 
the entrance and smearing it up, which would prevent 
the bees from going in. Set the table near the middle 
of the room. Have at hand ready prepared a lot of 
transfer clamps or sticks to hold the combs in the 
frames. These sticks should be one half inch longer 
than the depth of the frame ; or, in other words, their 
ends should project a full fourth of an inch above the 
top bar and the same distance below the bottom bar. 
They can easily be split from straight-grained pitch 
yellow pine. The ends of these sticks are notched to 
hold small, thin wires that keep the sticks in position 
on the comb. They are used in pairs— two ends are 
wired together with a space between the width of the 
bottom bar ; while one of the other ends has a wire 
three or four inches long to be wrapped around the end 
of the opposite stick when the pair is adjusted to the 
frame. 



Fig. 12. 



I 



Fig. 13. 




FRAME OF COMB SECURED IN 
FRAME BY TRANSFER STICKS. 



TRANSFER STICKS. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



It generally takes from three to four pair of these 
sticks to a frame. When all is ready, go to the hive 
to be transferred, and turn it mouth up; throw a 
cloth over it and carry it into the room and set it in 
front of the table, entrance end up. The table should 
have a cloth on, with one side hanging down, extend- 
ing a little below the top of the hive. Set the hive 
close up against the end of cloth. Place the box on 
the table with the open side down, and allow it to 
project one-third over the edge of table and directly 
above the hive to receive the bees that crawl up the 
cloth. Blow smoke across the top of the hive to keep 
the bees down, and remove the cloth covering the 
mouth of the hive and spread it over the box on the 
table, allowing one edge to hang over the top of the 
hive. Many persons drum with sticks on the hive to 
alarm the bees and to get them to ascend into the box. 
This drumming will do in warm weather, but when 
the day is cool and the colony not very strong, the 
bees will not ascend and the time spent in drumming 
is lost 

Blow plenty of smoke under the cloth, across the 
top of the hive and combs to keep the bees back, and 
to alarm them. When alarmed, they fill themselves 
with honey and commence to crawl up toward the 
top of the hive. Now remove the cloth that you have 
thrown over the hive and box and proceed with the 
saw to cut the cross sticks. Then take chisel and 
hatchet and remove one side of the hive — the side 
that runs the nearest parallel with the combs. Use 
smoke, whenever the bees come in your way, to drive 
them back. When the side is off, take the knife and 
cut around the edge of the comb and loosen it from 
the hive, and carefully remove it and lay it on wide 



BEE KEEPING EOR BEGINNERS. 



boards or on the table. If any bees are on brush them 
off gently with a whisk broom. Proceed in this way 
until the combs are all removed. After you get all 
the combs out, you have to go to work to place them 
in the frames. First lay your transfer sticks across a 
board (called a transfer board); then place a piece of 
comb on top and put your frame down and cut the 
comb to fit. Press it in the frame; and bring your 
stick across and wrap the wire. Now hang the frame 
containing the comb in the new hive. Proceed in 
this way until all the comb is fixed in the frames. 
Use only the straight worker comb, and reject the 
drone and all crooked pieces that will not make a 
nice fit in the frame. When inserting the combs in 
the frames, try to preserve the same order the comb 
occupied in the old hive. If you examine comb you 
will find the cells incline a trifle upward. Place the 
brood in the centre and the honey and pollen on the 
outside. It is best not to place too much comb honey in 
the frames, for there maybe too much drip, and if you 
get the entrance all smeared and clogged with honey 
the bees will not enter. Save all the bits of comb con- 
taining honey — for the bees may need it — and place it 
in dishes to be fed in the second story; or, if extracted 
or squeezed out of the combs, it can be placed in 
feeders. Wait a couple of days before you feed, until 
the bees clean up, and fasten the combs in the 
frames with wax. After the bees wax the combs in 
the frames, remove all the transfer sticks. 

Some bee-keepers use a mixture of two-parts of 
wax and one-part of rosin to hold the combs in the 
frames. This works very nicely with dry comb, but 
will not do with comb containing honey or much 
brood. 



46 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



After the frames are all in the hive, securely cover 
them with the quilt so no bees can get above them 
into the second story; for sometimes they will 
crawl up into the cap of the hive and commence to 
make comb there, and desert the lower story con- 
taining the transferred combs. This you must guard 
against. Now take the clustered bees in the box on 
the table-cover, and shake them in front of the hive 
on a cloth that should be tacked to the edge of the 
alighting board. Stir them in like a swarm. The 
bees that cluster on the window, brush down into a 
pan and throw them in front of the hive. When 
you are transferring a number of colonies it is not 
necessary for you to wait for all the bees to get in be- 
fore you can start on another hive. What few are 
out will go in with the following hive. Always be 
careful to have the queen in her own colony. 

If the weather is quite cool the bees had better be 
confined with wire-cloth, and carried into a dark 
room for 24 or 48 hours, until they clean up things, 
before you set them out. If the weather is warm, 
and there is a flow of honey, set them out late in the 
evening of the day you transferred them. Take the 
precaution to contract the entrance and place some 
obstructions in front to ward off strange bees. If 
the colony is short of stores, you must liberally feed; 
for in restoring and straightening up their combs and 
in rearing brood they will need large quantities. 

The following is a good plan for beginners: Allow 
one swarm to issue from your box hive. Hive this in 
your frame hive. Then in about twenty-one days 
after the issue of the swarm, transfer the old colony. 
The parent colony will now have a laying queen, 
whereas had you transferred just after the departure 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 47 



of the swarm, you would run the risk of destroying 
all the queen cells, and probaby loose the colony. 
There are other methods of transferring, but in this 
treatise, I have only given the plan which I consider 
the most practical and meritorious. 



BEE-KEEPING FUR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

What is Honey? — Honey From Other Sources 
Than Bloom— Adulterations— Do Bees In- 
jure Fruit ?— Pollen and Its Uses— Propo- 
lis— Wan— How Formed— Comb Foundation — 
How Made — Brood Foundation and How to 
Fasten it in the Frame— How Best to Use it 
—Section Foundation and How to Fasten it. 

§ONEY is a sweet substance secreted by the necta- 
ries of flowers. It is also secreted in small quan- 
tities by little glandular organs on certain plants 
like the cow-pea. 1 1 is taken up by the proboscis of the 
bee, and deposited in a special pouch called the honey 
sac. and conveyed to the hive. It is possible that 
the insect imparts to it some little acid; but honey is 
not nectar digested by the bees, as some writers con- 
tend. The odor, flavor and qualities of it depend upon 
the source from which it is gathered. Thus, the 
famous honey of Hymettus has its tbyme odor and 
flavor; the horse-mint honey has its distinguishing 
qualities; the sage, the poplar, the clover, &c, have 
their characteristic flavor. 

When natural forage is scarce, bees will gather 
sweets from many sources. They will collect the ex- 
cretion of the aphis, tbe waste of cider mills, cane 
mills, the refuse of molasses and sugar barrels, fruit 
juice, &c. But none of such stuff can truly be called 
honey. Bee-keepers have often been charged with 
feeding their bees glucose, sugar, &c, for the object of 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



the insects storing it in the surplus department to be 
sold for genuine honey. But such charges cannot be 
sustained. In fact, for a bee-keeper to purchase sugar, 
glucose, &c, to feed to his bees with the expectation 
of their depositing it as surplus honey to be sold at the 
price of the true article, would be to incur a loss in 
dollars and cents. This has repeatedly been tried, but 
only at a pecuniary loss 

In some seasons when there is a great scarcity of 
honey in the flowers bees will work on fruit, but it is 
only when put to great straits for food that they will 
attack sound fruit. When the skin of grapes, peaches, 
figs, &c, become punctured or cut by wasps, yellow 
jackets, birds, &c, they will proceed to suck the juice. 
But as all such cracked fruit is unsable they do com- 
paratively little damage. Here it should be remem- 
bered that the bee is the friend of the agriculturist— 
for if it were not for these insects, the fertilizing ele- 
ment of many male flowers would fail to reach the 
pistils of the female and consequently the plant would 
produce neither seeds nor fruit. Hence the bee is one 
of nature's great pollenizers. 

Honey is the chief food of the mature bees, but 
when breeding, they also consume large quantities of 
pollen which they use in connection with honey in 
preparing the food for the larvae. 

Pollen is a farinaceous dust adhering to the an- 
thers of flowers, and contains their fertilizing ele- 
ment. Bees collect this in little hairy baskets on 
their hind legs; and when the little insect gets its load 
well packed, it has*a yellow ball on each hind leg. 
When working in some trumpet shaped flowers like 
the yellow jesmine, cotton bloom, &c, it frequently 
gets its back also coated with pollen presenting the 



50 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



appearance of having been in a meal barrel. Some 
of tbe ancient bee-keepers thought that pollen was 
used to make the wax. but such is not the case. It 
exerts a very stimulating effect upon all the inmates 
of the hive. Very little breeding is done before 
pollen can be gathered in the spring, but as soon as 
the bees commence to carry it in, the queen's ovaries 
enlarge, and breeding goes on rapidly. Pollen is the 
principal food of the young bees; it is digested along 
with some honey by the workers into a sort of chyle, 
and in this form, deposited in the cell around the 
larvae Rye flour, and other farinaceous substances, 
have been substituted and fed for natural pollen, but 
all such experiments have not been attended with any 
great advantages. 

Propolis, often called bee-glue, is gathered by the 
bees to close up cracks and crevices about the hive. 
They collect it from various trees yielding gum and 
rosin. During the honey flow, they pay little atten- 
tion to this substance, but when the pasturage be- 
comes scant they commence to collect propolis and 
glue up all the little openings about the hive that 
would let in wind, rain aud insects. They also pro- 
polize all inside cracks that will not admit of the 
passage of their bodies. 

Wax is a sort of bee fat that is secreted by organs 
along the abdomen, and comes out from under the 
abdominal segments in thin flakes which are removed 
by attending bees and, after kneading with saliva, 
are worked into the wonderful structure of comb. 
Bees, when necessitated, will make comb at any time 
when the temperature is sufficiently warm to manip- 
ulate the wax; but they always work at it with more 
vim and earnestness about swarming time. When 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



deprived of honey bees cannot make wax. It has 
been determined by Huber and other experimenters 
that it takes from ten to fifteen pounds of honey to 
make one pound of wax. This has been ascertained 
by taking all the honey and combs from the bees, 
and then placing them, confined, in an empty hive, 
and feeding a given weight of honey, then the combs 
built were also weighed. In all such experiments the 
results can only be approximately correct, yet they 
are sufficiently accurate to prove that there would be 
a great saving of time and honey if the bees were fur- 
nished combs already prepared, or comb foundation 
for the base of the comb. 

When working in the apiary it is best to carry along 
a light box to put all the bits of comb in. Press it into 
hard balls and then the worms will not so readily 
destroy it. These pieces of comb, when saved, can be 
rendered into nice wax which will always command 
a good price. The haudiest instrument for this pur- 
pose is a solar wax extractor. But when you have 
ten or more pounds to render, the quickest way is to 
use a wash-pot. Fill your pot one-fourth full of water 
and bring to a boil. Eeduce your fire to a slow one. 
Put comb into a coarse bag, gajre the quantity to suit 
the pot, and place the bag into the pot and weight it 
down with a stone. Keep up a slow fire. As the wax 
comes on top dip it off into a vessel of hot water. 
Keep plenty of water in the pot or the wax may burn. 
Use pressure on the bag to get out the wax. After 
you get out all the wax you can, re-melt it in water 
and pour into cakes. Old rusty iron and tin will dis- 
color wax and spoil it. 

Comb foundation is made by passing sheets of pure 
beeswax through rollers whose surface is impressed or 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



embossed with the base of the cells of the comb. The 
beat brood foundation should run near six square feet 
to the pound, which, if well fastened into the frame, 
will not sag. 

Fig. 14. 




FOUNDATION. 

When thinner than this it will sometimes sag un- 
less it is secured in the frame by thin wires running 
perpendicularly or diagonally across it. These wires 
are so objectionable to the bees that they spend 
much time in trying to cut them out. Brood 
frames that have a triangular comb guide will 
take foundatian very securely. The best plan 
that I have found to fasten foundation into these 
frames is. to get a board that will fit inside of the 
frame and half as thick as the width of the top bar; 
lay your frame down and place your board in it, and 
lay your sheet of foundation on top with three-eights 
inches of top edge overlapping the comb guide. 
Now, with your thumb and a thick bladed knife, 
press and rub the edge of foundation down fast to the 
wood. It is not necessary to fasten it to the ends of 
the frames, neither should it touch the bottom bar by 
a half inch. 

It is not best to place swarms in hives with all the 
frames filled with foundation, for there would be a 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 53 

liability for it to break down by the weight of the 
bees, particularly if the weather should be very 
warm. My plan is to alternate the frames of founda- 
tion with frames of comb, or if the latter cannot be 
had, with empty frames. Then the bees will have a 
support aside from the foundation, which they will 
soon firmly secure with wax to the frame. 

The use of foundation always enables the bee- 
keeper to secure nice, straight worker combs, which is 
a consideration of great importance in every apiary; 
besides it places him in a position to control almost 
wholly the number of drones which is of great im- 
portance in breeding queens. 

It is always best to use full sheets in the frames, 
but narrow strips of an inch or two wide can be used 
to great advantange. The bees draw out the cells of 
foundation with astonishing rapidity. I have had 
them to draw whole frames of it out nearly complete 
in twenty-four hours, and in that time the queen had 
the cells filled with eggs. 

Thin foundation for the surplus department usually 
runs from 9 to 10 square feet to the pound Some is 
made with flat bottom cells which runs from 10 to 12 
square feet to the pound, but the bees do not take to 
this flat bottomed foundation as readily a« they do to 
that which has the natural base of the cell. 

Some bee-keepers of note use only starters of this 
thin foundation in the sections; but it is best to fill 
the sections one-half or two-thirds full. I find this a 
gain in time and honey. 

Quite a number of contrivances have been invented 
to fasten the starters of foundation in the sections, 
but I have adopted the following plan as the most 
satisfactory to myself, viz: First, cut your foundation 



54 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



into pieces of the size you want; then have at hand a 
pan of wax over a small kerosene heater, and when 
melted dip one edge of your foundation in and imme- 
diately apply to the section. To do this properly will 
need some little practice. See that the foundation is 
well fastened, for if it should get loose the b^es would 
fasten it at the point wh^re it dropped, and would 
probably make crooked comb in all the adjoining sec- 
tions. 

Parker's machine for fastening starters in sections is 
probably as efficient and rapid as any other. It is 
simple and cheap, and can be made to do the work 
well. To prevent the lever from sticking to the found- 
ation, keep it moistened with honey. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Which is More Profitable, to Run an Apiary 
For C >mb Honey or Extracted Honey?— 
Size of Brood Chamber When Working for 
Comb Honky— Cratk to hold the Sections- 
Bee Spack— When to Put on the Sections— 
How to Work to the Best Advantage- 
Wide Frames— What Colonies Will Work 
in Sections— How to Dispose of Partially 
Filled Sections— Swarming and Great Sur- 
plus Incompatible— Place to Store Sections 
That are Filled— How to Keep Out the 
Worms— Fumigation— Bkst Hive for Ex- 
tracted Honey— When to Extract— How to 
Take the Frames of Honey From the Hive 
—How to Extract— Rule -j to bb Observed- 
Uncapped Brood Injured— Time When the 
Extractor Should be Used With Caution. 

WHETHER it. is more profitable to run an apiary 
for extracted honey than for comb honey de- 
pends much upon the location and the market. 
Taking one season with another, considerably more 
extracted honey can be taken than comb honey, but 
when we get in the market probably one-f-»urth more 
for our comb honey than we do for the extracted ar- 
ticle, the difference is not much. It is always best to 
have both kinds to suit all customers. 



56 BEE KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

When we work for comb honey it is best not to have 
the brood chamber too large, for when there is great 
space here the bees will not go into the sections as 
long as they can find room below for the surplus. A 
hive with nine or ten frames js large enough for any 
location in the South. The one described in chapter 
fourth, is the one I recommend for comb honey. You 
can place on it one or two crates of sections as your 
pasturage and bees will warrant. The hive should sit 
level on its stand; for if it leans to one side the foun- 
dation will get out of plumb and crooked and bulging 
comb will be the result. 

Fig. 15. Fig. 16. 




ONE-PIECE SECTION. 

The bee-space being at the bottom, you 
can use any width of section. If they 
do not fill out, place in a dummy. A Section with 

... ' y . . . J , Foundation 

crate with a bee-space below has great starter, 

advantages over one that has the space on top; be- 
cause with the former, you can use any width of 
section, while the latter will admit of only one width. 
Besides, with this crate you do not need slatted honey 
boards nor separators. 

Some years ago there was a plain section without a 
bee passage brought to notice in the bee journals. 
The bee space was secured by means of a slotted sepa- 
rator. At the time very little attention was paid to 
the device, and it dropped out of sight. Recently the 
old idea has been resurrected in new habiliments with 
a slotted separator called a "fence " It is claimed the 
honey secured in these plain sections is nicer and bet" 
ter capped than in the standard style of section. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 57 



Whether the trifle of gain (if any) in appearance of 
t he honey would make up for the extra cost of these 
fence separators is a question which is not yet deter- 
mined. 

The sections should be made ready before you want 
to use them, and as soon as you see the bees adding 
wax to the upper part of the brood combs, put on 
your tier of sections. When they commence to gather 
surplus honey they bulge out the brood combs at the 
upper part with nice white comb and fill it with 
honey. If there is a good honey flow it does not take 
them long to fill the crate. When it is about half 
complete, raise it up and place an empty one under it 
next the brood chamber. The bees will not like the 
space between their surplus and the brood, and will tax 
their energies the more to fill it. As soon as the first 
or top tier of sections is complete remove it before the 
bees discolor the capping of the honey by crawling 
over it. It is best to remove the sections as soon as 
capped if we wish to preserve them white and discol- 
ored. The middle sections are usually finished before 
the outside ones; and if you wait till these arecapped, 
the middle ones will be made dark by the 
bees crawling over them with their pollen stained 
feet. Put empty sections in the place of the 
ones removed. If the honey harvest will justify 
it, you can raise the second crate and place an empty 
one under as before. By this plan, carefully managed, 
I am satisfied you can obtain more surplus comb 
honey than by any other. 

Some very good bee-keepers use wide frames to hold 
the sections, a plan that I do not recommend. A full 
depth frame will hold eight sections 4|x4^, a half 
frame only four sections. 



58 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



It is necessary to use separators with these frames 
if you want the bees to keep the combs straight in the 
sections. You suspend the frames in the upper story. 
You can get six in the upper story of an eight frame 
hive, an<l seven in the upper story of a ten-frame one. 
In the midst of the honey flow you can insert one of 
these wide frames on each side of the brood chamber, 
of a ten-frame hive, and confine the brood to seven 
frames. 

In the greater portion of the South the bulk of the 
surplus honey is gathered by first swarms. Mr. 
Hedden and, I believe, Mr. Hutchinson, both expe- 
rienced bee-keers of Michigan, contend that in their 
location it is best to hive swarms that issue in the 
midst of the honey flow, either on full sheets of found- 
ation or on foundation starters, and not on full frames 
of comb already worked out. That when the latter is 
given them they fill the complete cells with honey 
much faster than the queen can deposit eggs in them; 
but on the other hand, that when they have to draw 
out the cells of foundation or construct the comb, the 
queen deposits the egg in the cell before it is ready for 
honey, and consequently there is more compulsion for 
the bees to place the honey in the sections. 

A strong colony will generally work in the sections 
before it swarms. Some sections they may complete 
and cap over, others remain incomplete; but as soon 
as the first swarm issues the section boxes are deserted, 
and if second swarms issue work in that crate of sec- 
tions is stopped for the season so far as that colony is 
concerned. In order to get these sections complete it 
is necessary to practice a coup a'etat movement. 

As soon as the new swarm is well to work and es- 
tablished in its new hive, which will be in two or 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 59 



three days, remove the crate from the old hive and 
place it on the new colony, and they will soon com- 
plete the job. The new colony ha* the queen, the 
vim and the energy, while the old parent hive, for a 
time, has no laying queen, and is greatly reduced in 
its working force. 

Over-swarming is the bane of the bee-keeper. One 
swarm is as much as a colony should cast consistent 
with surplus for the owner. Our full honey crop 
comes only from our strong colonies, and these must 
be strong at the time of th*>. h'tney fl->w. To secure 
this condition, the beginner must get his colonies in 
good shape in the fall with twenty-five or thirty 
pounds O' stores, and then, if the queen is vigorous, 
the colony will come out early in the spring with an 
army of workers ready for the harvest. Many plans 
have been suggested for the prevention of swarming, 
but really I know of no certain one that will meet all 
caseH When bees get the swarming fever, they will 
often take it into their heads to swarm in spite of all 
plans. 

Cutting out queen cells, removing frames of brood 
and giving frames of foundation, often prevent it for 
the season. This plan works better in the prevention 
of after-swarms than it does with first swarms. In 
this case, cut out all queens' cells but one. If "casts" 
issue, return them to the parent hive after removing 
a frame or two of comb and substituting foundation. 
Gage queens when there is danger of their being 
killed. When working for extracted honey, swarm 
ing can usually be controlled or prevented by close 
extraction and the removal of a frame or two of brood 
and replace by empty frames. 

The filled sections should be stored in a close, tight, 



60 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

dry room, free from dampness. When comb honey is 
stored in a damp place, the honey in the uncapped 
cells will absorb moisture and ferment. In a few 
weeks' time the combs should be examined to see if 
any wax worms are in. You can easily tell by the 
flour like dust which they leave on the comb. You 
can only kill them by fumigating the combs of honey 
with sulphur. To do this successfully the room must 
be air-tight. Place an iron pot on some brick in the 
room, and put in a shovel full of live coals, and drop on 
top of the coals a table spoon full of flour of sulphur, 
and immediately close the room for twenty-four hours. 
This amount of sulphur is sufficient for a room ten 
feet square. One application will usually be suffi- 
cient. The honey is not affected by the fumigation. 
If the room is kept close enough to exclude the wax 
moth there will be no further danger, as all the egg§ 
have hatched and the larvae killed. When the amount 
of comb honey is not large it can be fumigated in a large 
dry goods box. Nail supports around the sid«« of the 
box to hold the sections. Cut a hole in the box near 
the bottom large enough to admit a small iron pan or 
skillet, and furnish it with a sliding door. Also place 
at bottom a few brick to keep your pan off the wood- 
Place your honey in and cover the box tight; have all 
cracks securely closed so no air can get in; now place 
a few live coals in your pan and spriukle on a tea- 
spoonful of sulphur; quickly pass it through the hole 
into the box and close the door. Frames and sections 
with empty comb can be treated in the same way to 
keep out the worms. 

Sections that are only partially filled with honey 
and not completed had better be extracted, for if the 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



comb is nice and white, they can be used the next 
Beason to great advantage. 

When we work for extracted honey it is best to have 
a hive to hold from ten to twenty frames. Some bee- 
keepers extract the honey before it is properly cured 
in the comb, and before it is capped over, and then 
after extracting they allow it to stand for some time 
in shallow vessels or tanks to evaporate. These bee- 
keepers very often have the mortification to find that 
their honey sometimes ferments and sours, and be- 
comes unsaleable. The safe plan is to allow the bees 
to pretty well cure it in the hive before extracting. 
Half of the comb should at least be capped over, then 
the honey will keep in any climate. 
Fig. 17. 




muth's honey extractor. 
The honey extractor is a machine made to sling the 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



honey out of the cells by centrifugal force. Before the 
frames of honey are placed in the revolving reel of the 
extractor the cells must all be uncapped with a knife 
made for the purpose. 

Fig. 18. 




MUTH'S UNCAPPING KNIFE. 



Fig. 19. 




BINGHAM'S UNCAPPING KNIFE. 

The cappings should be placed in a vessel like a 
colander, so the honey can drain from them. The 
velocity of the machine should only be sufficient to 
throw the honey from the cells, then there is less 
danger of breaking the combs. If any comb should 
break, use transfer sticks to hold it in place till the 
bees can repair it. The extracting room should be 
made close with wire-cloth door and window screens 
so no bees can get in to annoy or rob. 

A set of extra combs should be used to place in the 
hive in place of the frames of honey removed. This 
saves time and danger from robbers when opening 
hives. After the first combs are extracted they should 
be used to replace full ones from another hive. 

You should have a light box with a tight lid to hold 
the frames when removed from the hive and to carry 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



them back and forth. When you remove the bees 
from the frame of comb, stand at the back of the hive 
and lean over to the front with the frame, and with a 
quick motion shake the bees oft on the alighting 
board. In this position there is less danger of getting 
stung than if you stand in front. Brush off the re- 
maining bees with a tuft of grass or the sprout from a 
peach tree. A wing or feather irritates them very 
much and is not as good as the grass. 

After the honey is extracted it should stand for a 
few days in some deep vessel in-order to allow the 
small particles of wax to rise to the top, to be skimmed 
off before it is placed in permanent vessels. 

While the extractor is an indispensable machine to 
the successful bee-keeper, its use can be abused. It is 
always well to know when to extract and when to 
stop; what frames to extract and what to let alone. 
When the honey flow is very abundant, the same 
frames can be extracted every rive or six days, or as 
often as the bees get them filled. 

Years ago, when I first commenced to use the ex- 
tractor, I was told, by the then bee-keeping l>gJdx, that 
uncapped brood was not injured by it, but I soon 
found out that it was, and I went more cautiously. 
Frames containing such brood should notoe extracted. 
When the brood is capped over I do not think it is 
injured by the operation. 

It should be borne in mind that in most of the 
Southern Rtates the spring honey flow is over by the 
middle of June, and that July, August and a portion 
of September are dull months and hardly afford suf- 
ficient forage to sustain the bees; hence do not extract 
too closely, otherwise y our bees will be set back and 
probably may not be able to gather a sufficient sup- 
port for winter. 



64 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER X. 

Artificial Swarming— How to Make Swarms by 
Division— Cyprian and Syrian Bees Great 
Cell Builders— Honey Production and 
Queen Breeding Antagonistic to Each 
Other in Practice— Which is the Most Prof- 
itable^— The Queen the Prime Factor in 
the Colony— Capable of Improvement — 
Highest Type of Queen— Necessity for 
Breeding Queens and Drones— The Proper 
Conditions of a Colony to Make Good Queen 
Cells — How to Procure the Eggs to Get the 
Larvje— The Eight Stage for Use— How to 
Prepare it and Fix it in the Frame for 
Use — How to Prepare the Hive — How to 
Get Bees of Right Age to Make the Queen 
Cells — How to Keep the Dates — When to 
Remove the Cells — How to Make Nuclei 
for the Reception of Cells — How to Insert 
the Cells — Bees Cutting the Cells — How to 
Prevent— Introducing Virgin Queens— How 
to Introduce Fertile Queens— Mailing 
Cages— Candy for Food— How Prepared. 

WHILE the majority of the largest honey pro 
ducers of our country prefer that their bees 
should swarm naturally, there are locations 
and cases where artificial swarming can be practiced 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 65 

to great advantage. There are many plans to do 
this, and each one, in the hands of the bee-keeper who 
follows it, is the best Now I will give a plan or two 
which I think best for the beginner: 

The practice of the science of bee-keeping is not 
unlike the pursuit of other branches of science. You 
gather an idea, and »that idea enlarges and begets 
other ideas that enable you to generalize your science 
and modify its modes of application. 

I now suppose that your apiary consists of one col- 
ony and you want to divide it, and do not care to take 
the chance of losing the swarm. But you must not 
think of doing it until it is near the eve of swarming. 
The hive should be "boiling over" with bees, drones 
flying, and honey coming in. Get your empty hive, 
and go to the hive you want to divide and draw from 
it two frames of brood, and one of pollen, and stores 
with all the adhering bees, and place them in the new 
hive. One of theae frames should have the queen on ; 
for you wish to put her also in the new hive. 
Sbake two-thirds of the remaining bees in the 
in the old hive in front of the new one and make them 
run in. Now fill up both hives with frames filled 
with foundation, and set the new hive on its stand. 
Perform the operation of dividing in the evening. The 
way the hives are divided, the new hive has the most 
of the bees, and the old hive most of the brood ; but 
the next day the greatest number of the old bees will 
return to the old hive, and its working force will be 
greatly increased. The bees in the old hive will pro- 
ceed to make queen cells, and in about twenty-one 
days will have a laying queen. If it is desired to util- 
ize the extra queen cells, proceed on the ninth day 

from the time of making the division, to cut all out 
(5) 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



but one good one, and give them to queenless colonies 
or nuclei. Even if you do not want to save them it is 
best to cut them out, in order to guard against the 
colony casting a swarm. Cyprian or Syrian colonies 
in this condition would be most certain to cast a swarm 
unless the extra cells were removed. If you could 
give the colony a laying queen it would be much bet- 
ter than allowing it to make one of their own. With 
bees, u time is honey. 11 The objection to placing empty 
frames in the queenless part of the division would be, 
that the bees would make drone comb in them till a 
queen was hatched . 

Now suppose you have five colonies in your apiary 
all near the eve of swarming. Draw two frames (if 
your new hive will hold 10 frames) of brood and 
stores with the adhering bees from each, and place 
them in the empty hive. Replace the frames re- 
moved with frames filled with foundation. Be cer- 
tain not to take any queen. Se^ the hive on its per- 
manent stand and give the bees a fertile queen. If 
you can not do this allow them to make queen cells. 
Here your five colonies contributed to make this new 
colony, and neither of them sustained any apprecia- 
ble loss. In a few days time the operation could be 
repeated. But it is best to bear in mind that the 
wealth of the apiary must always be measured by the 
number of strong colonies. 

Possibly the highest attainment of an apiarist is 
skill in breeding a high order of queens. Honey pro- 
duction and breeding queens are to a certain extent 
antagonistic to each other in practice. The producer 
of honey must build up his colonies to the greatest 
strength he is able; while the breeder of queens is 
continually and unavoidably depleting his colonies 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



and keeping them reduced in strength. Hence the 
queen breeder is liable to have, in the fall, many weak 
fragments of colonies that have to be doubled up and 
fed, at expense, if he wishes to take them over the 
winter. 

Here the question comes up, which is the most 
profitable, producing honey or breeding queens? This 
depends upon the extent of pasturage, location and 
market. If the bee-keeper is in a fair location for 
honey, he had better sell his honey at ten cents per 
pound rather than breed queens and sell them at one 
dollar; forthecare, attention, labor and expense at- 
tending the production of first-class queens, are infi- 
nitely greater. 

As the queen is the prime factor in the colony, it is 
essential that she should possess all the requisites for 
successfully performing her especial functions. If 
we desire to improve the qualities of our bees we must 
commence with the improvement of our queens. 

That there is a capacity for improvement in the 
honey bee I think can hardly be questioned. We 
know that both plants and animals are endowed with 
such a capacity, and why should the bee be an excep- 
tion to this natural law ? Our delicious and whole- 
some apple of the present day was originally the sour, 
miserable Siberian crab; our sweet and juicy peach 
was from a bitter fruit of Asia; our improved Irish 
potato sprang from an insignificant tuber of South 
America. Our improved breeds of horses, cattle, hogs, 
poultry, &c, have been brought up to their present 
state of perfection by intelligently and carefully breed- 
ing up the wild originals. How far this improvement 
can be carried with the bee is difficult to determine, 
as the organs of reproduction in the queen as well as 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



her fertilization are, I may say, anomolous — so unlike 
the breeding of our domestic animals that the queen 
breeder will always have immense difficulties to con- 
tend with. 

In breeding queens of any variety of the honey bee 
there is a slight tendency to sport and revert back 
towards the original, especially in the yellow varieties. 
For this reason it is important to select breeding 
queens that possess a strong individuality, and capa- 
bility of stamping their characteristics upon their 
progeny. This information cannot be obtained by the 
mere appearance of the queen, but by practically test- 
ing her queen and worker progeny. 

It is very important to select the most desirable 
drones for the purpose of fertilization. Drones from a 
vicious and irascible colony may corrupt the worker 
progeny of the majority of the young qneens in an 
apiary. All impure and objectionable drones should 
be suppressed by frequently examining the colonies 
and shaving off the heads of the young drones in the 
cells; by cutting out the drone comb and inserting 
worker foundation in place, and by the use of drone 
traps. For this object I recommend Alley 's drone and 
queen trap. Black drones distant four miles from an 
Italian apiary frequently copulate with the young 
Italian queens. 

The highest type of a queen can only be obtained 
when all the conditions for her development are the 
most perfect. These conditions we can learn by ob- 
serving a hive before the eve of swarming. The hive 
is crowded with young bees, the temperature is main- 
tained at a uniform heat ; honey and pollen are plen- 
tiful, and the whole colony is infused with life and 
and intensity of purpose to perpetuate the race. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



Hence it would be but natural for them to put forth 
their best energies in the development of the future 
queen that is to lay the eggs to produce the population 
of the colony. Therefore, the breeder should study 
the economy and condition of colonies at swarming 
time, and endeavor to keep his breeding hives in ap- 
proximate conditions. 

Queen cells made in full colonies are generally fine 
and well formed, and the que^n correspondingly fine. 
This is as they should be under the condition of full 
colonies. If the cells are examined they will usually 
be fou!jd to be long, rough, with indentations on 
their surface ; and the amount of royal jelly deposited 
around the embryonic queen to be very abundant. In 
some cells it is in excess of consumption, and a large 
quantity is left after the queen crawls out. 

Fig. 20 




Queen cells inserted in frame of comb, and others in 
process of development. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



Where we have hundreds of queens to furnish, breed- 
ing them in full colonies, particularly after swarming 
time, would be very expensive, hence we must resort 
to a plan cheaper and more practical. 

When a colony is deprived of its queen they in- 
stinctively go to work, as soon as the excitement at- 
tending the loss subsides, to make another. They are 
ready to do the work ; but in order to do it well, we 
must supply them with all the requisites and essen- 
tials. 

The egg of the queen is analogous to the eggs of 
fowls and birds. It has its delicate coverings, albu- 
men and yolk; and when the little germ within de- 
velops and bursts the shell, it emerges a tiny worm or 
grub, scarcely discernible with the naked eye. This 
is now the perfect age of the larvse for the bees to de- 
vevelop into a queen. Always select the larvse as 
newly hatched as possible. 

At two day's old it makes puny queens, and after 
the larva gets three days old it is worthless for breed- 
ing purposes. It has been demonstrated time and 
again, that the royal jelly is most abundantly elabor- 
ated by young bees, and for this object they must be 
fully supplied with both honey and pollen. The tem- 
perature of the hive must be high enough not to chill 
the larva. 

In order to get the larvae of the right age you must 
insert a frame of nice, clean worker comb in the 
centre of the brood nest of your hive that contains 
your breeding queen, and if this colony is strong and 
and the queen prolific— a condition in which it should 
be kept — the comb may be filled with eggs by the 
next day; but if the comb is not clean and has been 
out of the hive for some time, the queen will refuse 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 71 

to lay in it until the bees clean the cells, and, as it 
were, varnish them. They frequently fill the cells 
of such comb with honey, rather than have eggs de- 
posited in it. 

Observe closely for the eggs; then you must note 
that these eggs will hatch in three day's time. When 
hatched, cut out a piece of the comb, say two by four 
inches, or enough for insertion in the frame on which 
the queen cells are to be developed. Cut this comb 
into strips half an inch wide, and cut down the cells 
on one side to half their depth. The knife for this pur- 
pose must be warmed over a lamp so it will easily 
pass through the comb without clogging or dragging. 

Get a frame of tough old comb, free from the eggs and 
larvae of the wax-moth, and cut out pieces as long as 
your strips of brood, but an inch and a half wider, 
and to the upper edge of tbese oblong holes you must 
fasten the strips of larvae. To do this, have a pan of 
melted wax and dip the edge of the uncut cells in the 
wax and immediately apply to the old comb. This 
will place the larvae in the cut cells directly down- 
ward, with no obstruction beneath, and in the best 
position for the bees to construct the queen cells. A 
frame with two cross pieces of wood running from 
end to end is very convenient for holding the brood. 
Fasten to these cross pieces an inch strip of old comb, 
and then to this comb fasten the strips of larvae as 
previously directed. 

I make my breeding hives only large enough to hold 
four frames 17f x9J. At each end I have inch and a 
half holes for ventilation. These holes are covered 
with wire cloth and have buttons to close them when 
necessary. Into one of these hives I hang my frame of 
selected brood, and also place in two frames, one on 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



each side of the breeding one, filled with honey and 
pollen but no brood, which I draw from strong colo. 
uies. It is very essential that no brood nor eggs should 
be in these frames; hence observe carefully. The 
fourth I fill with foundation for the bees to draw out 
if they will. 

To populate this hive with bees of the right age, I 
go to a strong colony with plenty of young bees, and 
take out three or four frameswith as many young bees 
as possible and shake all the bees off the combs in 
front of the breeding hive. Be careful not to get the 
queen. Stir the bees into the new hive like a swarm. Go 
to another populous colony and take combs of bees and 
shake them in front of the hive. Repeat this with other 
hives, if necessary, until you get into the breeding hive 
fully two quarts of bees. Close up the entrance with 
wire cloth and open the ventilators, and carry it, with, 
out jarring, into a cool and dark room. Allow it to 
remain till the evening of the following day, and 
then, near dark, place it on its stand and open the en- 
trance. Set a board up in front of the entrance to 
ward oft robbers, and to assist the bees in marking the 
hive. The time this breeding colony was formed must 
be noted. I use a small slate for registering that is 
hung on a nail at the front of the hive. On this slate 
I may write: 

A. 

F.— 5th March. 

R.— 14th March. 
Which is read: Brood from queen, "A"; colony 
formed March 5th; cells to be removed March 14th, 
which is nine days after the formation. At this date 
all the perfect cells, but one, must be cut out and given 
to queenless colonies. All small, defective cells should 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 73 

be destroyed, for it is better to destroy worthless 
queens in the larvre state than to loose time waiting 
to see if the queens prove good. 

Nuclei for the reception of queen cells can be made 
by drawing frames of brood and stores with all the 
adhering bees from strong stocks. Select frames with 
brood ready to crawl out. Two such frames that are 
well covered with bees placed in a nucleus hive, with 
a frame of foundation between for the bees to work 
out, will be sufficient. Such colonies for the reception 
of the cells should be prepared a day or two before the 
cells are to be removed; and they should always be 
kept supplied with brood. The cells should be re- 
moved with a small-bladed knife, and with a margin 
of comb around them. They should be carefully 
handled, and held in the same position they occupied 
in the hive. 

When the weather is cool, the cells should be in- 
serted in recesses cut in the comb that is in the 
centre of the cluster, and held in place by thorns 
until the bees wax them to the comb. When the tem- 
perature is warm enough not to chill the brood they 
can be inserted between the tops of the frames directly 
over the brood nest. Very frequently the bees will cut 
the cells when we would suppose from their queenless 
condition that they would exhibit the greatest care in 
their preservation. Why they do this is often hard to 
account for. They are apt to do it when they have 
laying workers among them. 

It is always best to get rid of these laying workers 
as soon as possible. If the colony has a quart or more 
of bees, give them a couple of frames of brood from 
other hives. One frame should have young bees 
crawling out and the other brood in all stages of de- 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



velopment. As soon as the hive gets well stocked 
with young bees they will most likely, if brood is fur- 
nished them, start queen cells. At this stage you can 
give them a queen cell or a fertile queen. But if the 
colony has been very much reduced in bees unite them 
with some other colony. 

They are also liable to cut them when not gathering 
honey and are idle. They are more apt to cut them 
when they have not a particle of brood in the hive 
than when they have plenty. I have found by wait- 
ing till their own make of cells are capped that they 
will more readily receive them. But this is too slow 
for the queen breeder. Time with him is money when 
he has orders for queens. I have successfully used a 
wire cage to protect them. This is made out of a 
piece of stiff wire cloth about 3| inches square. Make 
an inch cut in it, one inch from each corner. Bend 
up the sides to distance of cuts and ravel out two or 
three of the outside wires. Take one of these wires 
and secure the corners. Now you have a square wire 
cup with an open top. Press it firmly into the comb 
over the cell. The queen cell should be fastened near 
some cells of uncapped honey so that in case the cell 
hatches the young queen can get feed. Numerous 
contrivances have been recommended and used for the 
preservation of queen cells, but the fuss and bother 
with their use generally counterbalances all their 
merit. 

In case the cell hatches, release the queen in the 
same manner as described in directions for introdu- 
cing queens. I have introduced, and attempted to 
introduce, thousands of virgin queens by every plan 
I ever heard of and could think of, and I find there 
are more failures connected with the introduction of 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



these queens than with fertilized ones. I am aware 
that there are many bee-keepers who assert that they 
never have any failures in their introduction; now, 
all I got to say is, that their experience must be on a 
very small scale, or their "lucky star" must shine 
much brighter than mine. 

Bees will receive strange queens more readily some- 
times than at others. When they are gathering 
honey plentifully, fertile queens can safely be intro- 
duced by most any plan, but when the honey harvest 
is over, and the bees are comparatively idle, they 
are often received with very little grace. 

Every bee-keeper has his own method of introduc- 
ing queens which he thinks the best. But it matters 
not what plan is used, it must be carried out with 
care and judgment or it will fail. There are many 
forms and varieties of cages used for this purpose. I 
prefer one made out of wire cloth with 10 to 12 
meshes to the linear inch, and about one and a 
half inches in diameter with one side open. It has 
a tin rim soldered around it to hold the wire cloth 
in position, and resembles in shape a cake-cutter. 
The cage should be as deep as the comb is thick. 

After removing the queen to be replaced, take a 
frame that has sealed honey from the middle of the 
cluster, shake all the bees off and press the open side 
of your cage into the sealed honey at the upper part 
of the comb. After starting the rim of the cage into 
the honey, raise up one side of the cage and place the 
new queen under head foremost. Close down into the 
comb but in doing so be careful not to catch the 
queen under the edge of the cage and either maim or 
kill her. Press the cage into the comb, only leav- 
ing a space of half or three-quarters of an inch for 



76 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

the queen. Now replace the frame in the hive and 
Rt the end of 48 hours examine to see that all is right. 
Sometimes the bees will cut the cage loose and kill 
the queen. To guard against this, confine the cage in 
position with a pair of transfer sticks. If the bees 
are clustered on the cage, biting the wires and trying 
to get at the queen, it would not be safe to release her. 
Wait till they are evenly distributed on both cage and 
comb, and shows less anger; then with a small- 
bladed knife, cut a hole through the comb from the 
opposite side into the cage, and replace the frame in 
the hive. Allow the cut and loose particles of comb 
to remain in the hole to be removed by the bees. In 
cutting this hole care must be taken not to injure the 
caged queen. Before cutting the hole be particular to 
look over the combs and remove every queen cell that 
they have started. The next day examine the cage 
again, and if the queen is still in, enlarge the hole a 
little. Allow the queen to crawl out at will, and do 
not force her out. The bees that crawl through the 
hole into the cage will not attempt to hurt the queen, 
for they seem to be bewildered by the environment 
and lose sight of her majesty. 

It is a not a good plan to use the shipping cage for 
introducing. This cage becomes filled with bad 
odors during its passage through the mails, whereby 
it becomes offensive to the bees, and the confined 
queen is only received under difficulty. Always use 
a clean, fresh cage if possible. The queen can be 
safely transferred to another cage in a close room 
before a window. Open the shipping cage and let 
her pass to the window, then catch her by the wing 
or thorax and place her in the clean cage. Never 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



take hold of her by the abdomen or you might injure 
her. Do not put any of the bees that come with her 
in the new cage. 

Very valuable queens can be introduced by placing 
in small nuclei, if the weather is warm enough not to 
chill the brood. Take a frame of capped brood that is 
crawling out, and that has unsealed honey, with the 
adhering bees, carry it a few rods from the hive, give 
it a gentle shake to get rid of the old bees which will 
fly back to the hive. Wet the few remaining bees on 
the frame by a gentle sprinkle, and place the frame in 
an empty hive with entrances closed with wire-cloth. 
Drop the queen in and instantly close the hive. Place 
the hive in a cool dark room. In twenty-four hours 
add another frame of the same sort of brood and honey, 
but no old bees. In forty eight hours place the hive 
on its stand; open entrance to admit one bee at a 
time, and place some obstructions in front to ward off 
robbers. The young bees Mill soon be off to work, 
and if a frame of brood is added from time to time, it 
can soon be built up into a strong colony. There are 
many other plans of introducing queens by spraying, 
sprinkling, smoking, chloroforming, daubing in 
honey, &c.,' but I deem the above sufficient for all 
practical purposes. 

Mailing cages should be neat, light, ventilated, and 
provisioned to suit the journey. For distances of 1,000 
miles and under, a soft candy made by kneading 
pulverized sugar into honey, until the latter will take 
no more, is the best for the trip. In fact, this food if 
the weather is not too hot, will take queens from the 
Atlantic coast to the Pacific. But if the weather is 
very warm, I use a small tin water can with two com- 



78 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

partments, in connection with a harder candy made 
by boiling granulated sugar. With this arrangement, 
queens will go safely on a twenty or thirty days jour- 
ney. A cage designed by Mr. Frank Benton is a most 
excellent one for either short or long journeys. The 
feed is soft candy. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER XI. 
Diseases of Bees— Dysentery — Prevalent in 
the North but Unknown in the South- 
Cause— Foul-Brood — Appearance — Cause- 
Treatment — Infection — Treatment of In- 
fected Combs and Hives— Bee Paralysis— 
Causes— Remedies. 

TT7HE honey bee is fortunate in not being subject 
®J[® to many diseases. Dysentery is a disease that 
often attacks the bees during winter and early 
spring in northern latitudes, where they are confined 
for long spells of cold weather; but in the South this 
disease is not known. It undoubtedly arises from 
long confinement, with engorgement of the intestines 
with improper food. The remedies indicated would 
be: A cleansing flight, warmth in the hive, removal 
of dampness and better stores. 

Foul-brood is not a common disease, but when it 
takes hold of an apiary it requires watchfulness, great 
care and determined effort to exterminate it. The 
cause of the disease is supposed to be a fungus bacillus 
alvei that attacks the larva in the cell before it takes 
the form of the perfeet insect. All the contents of 
the hive— bees, honey combs, frames and inside sur- 
face become infected with the spores which can be 
conveyed to other hives by inter-passing bees. 

The symptoms of the disease, as described by bee- 
keepers who have contended with it, are: A decline 
in the prosperity of the colony, and when the brood 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



combs are examined they emit a disagreeable smell 
from the decomposition of the larvse. The larvae 
turn dark and finally assume a soft, sticky, ropy 
substance that emits a horrid stench. The capping 
of the cells of young larvie is sunk, and often perfo- 
rated with a little hole. 

Mr. Chas. F. Muth, of Cincinnati, and Mr. D. A. 
Jones, of Canada, have had much experience with 
this disease. To extiiminate the spores Mr. Muth 
uses salicylic acid, a funcicide, first recommended by 
a German scientist. His preparation consists of eight 
grains of salicylic acid, eight grains of soda-borax and 
one ounce of water. The mixture is applied as fol- 
lows : First uncap the brood then spray the liquid 
over the combs with an atomizer. This operation 
should be repeated three or four times. Mr- Muth 
found this remedy to work satisfactorily in colonies 
but slightly affected with the disease, but where the 
disease is advanced he advises that the bees be trans- 
ferred into a clean hive filled with foundation, con- 
fined, and fed honey or sugar syrup containing a mix- 
ture of sixteen grains each of salicylic acid and soda- 
borax, and one ounce of water to a quart of the syrup. 

The treatment of D. A. Jones is more thorough. 
He removes the bees from the infected hives to a clean 
empty hive closed with wire cloth. This hive should 
be placed in a cool dark room. They remain in this 
hive for 36 or 48 hours till they have exhausted all the 
honey they had stored in their sacs; then he places 
them on frames of foundation in a new hive, and feeds. 
The honey should in no case be fed back to the bees, 
even if boiled, and this should be done even if used for 
any other purpose. The combs can be melted up into 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 61 



or burnt. The hive can be disinfected by washing 
with carbolic acid, or better with Hydrogen Dioxide, 
and a coat of paint given inside and out. All these 
operations must be conducted at such times when no 
bees can get about to come in contact with the hoDey, 
combs, frames or hives, of the infected colony, for if 
they do, the disease maybe communicated to their 
colony. 

Bee-Paralysis is a disease the name of which does 
not express the symptoms or nature of the disease at 
all. The disease seems to affect the worker bees in 
some apiaries at some seasons and then disappears for 
a time. When first attacked they appear to shake, 
loose hair, abdomen swells, and they crawl out of the 
hive as though they were intoxicated and die. All 
sorts of theories have been advanced as a cause; and 
just as many remedies have been offered for its cure. 
But the truth is, we have nothiug demonstrative or 
positive up to the present, either as to cause or remedy. 
Salt, sulphur, spraying with a disinfectant, changing 
queens, &c. &c, have had their advocates. After a 
colony is attacked for a time, the symptoms usually 
disappear. Some seasons it is more prevalent than at 
others. From a summing up of the reports of the dis- 
ease in many different apiaries, I am inclined to offer 
the opinion (and it is theory) that it is quite likely 
caused by food infected with microbes, or poisonous 
mycological formations. It seems to appear more fre- 
quently in those apiaries where the bees have access 
to cider-mills, decaying fruit juice, rotten water- 
melons, &c. Cheshire claimed that it was caused by 
Bacillus Gaytoni, and yielded to the same remedies as 
Bacillus Alvei. 

(6) 



82 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Enemies of Bees— The Wax-Moth — When Intro- 
duced into this Country— Description— Its 
Eggs and Lakvji- Galleries and Cocoons 
— Moth-Proof Hives— Mallophora— Braula 
Co ec a or Bee Lice — Ants and Termites- 
How to Exterminate — Protection Against 
Mice— Toads Depredators— Spiders— Birds. 

TT7HE wax-moth, galleria cereana, is probably the 
,®J[® worst enemy that the Southern bee-keeper has 
to contend with. This insect is of eastern origin, 
referred to by Aristotle, and is said to have been intro- 
duced into this country in 1805. This miller belongs 
to the snout family of moths and is of a grey ash color, 
measuring from head to tip of closed wing about 
three-quarters of an inch. The wings shut closely on 
top of the back, slope steeply downwards, and have an 
upward turn at the end. The female is larger, darker, 
and has a longer snout than the male. 

As soon as evening approaches, this wily insect may 
often be seen flying around the hives, seeking a place, 
as near as possible to the waxen cells of the bee, to de- 
posit its eggs. When the hive is densely populated 
with bees so that all the combs are covered and the 
entrances well guarded, the moth can not well enter, 
and its larvse can seldom effect a lodgment inside of a 
strong vigorous colony. But if the colony is weak and 
feeble, and has more combs than the bees can cover, 
and the approaches to the hive are not well guarded, 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 83 

the moth will soon get inside and lay its eggs on tlie 
combs. 

When the colony is strong and no entrance can be 
effected, the moth will lay its eggs in some crack or 
recess around the hive, usually near the entrance or 
bottom board. The eggs, when thus deposited, are 
laid in patches varying from I- to f of an inch in diam- 
eter, containing from 75 to 200 eggs. When first 
hatched the larvae are scarcely over ^ of an inch long, 
nearly transparent, and can hardly be seen with the 
unaided eye. They appear as tiny worms that run 
with great swiftness. As they can readily pass through 
the smallest cranny, it is easy to understand how 
worms often get into those places in the hive that are 
less frequented by the bees, such as outside cards of 
comb and sections. 

The larvae are voracious eaters, and grow rapidly. 
When ready to spin their cocoons they vary in size 
from J to | inches in length, depending upon their fa- 
cilities for perfect development. Their diet is wax. 
They frequently develop in exposed cakes of rendered 
wax, but they seem to prefer old comb, and thrive 
better on it than they do on new. At first their pres- 
ence can only be told by a little flour-like substance 
deposited on the comb made by their excrement and 
particles of wax that they cut. As they proceed with 
their passage-ways, they line them with silken webs 
which render them safe from the attacks of the bees. 
Their heads being covered with a horny shield are 
proof against stings, whereby they can protude them 
beyond their silken gallery and proceed with their 
destructive work with impunity. 

The young worms frequently get under nearly ma- 
ture brood and web the young bees down fast, so that 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



they cannot crawl out, and can only be released by the 
bees cutting the cells away from around them and 
pulling out the webs. Such webbed young bees are 
generally carried out of the hive. 

From a knowledge of the natural history of this in- 
sect we can easily comprehend the impractibility of 
all so-call moth proof bee -hives. In fact the only moth- 
proof hives that can be depended on are those contain- 
ing strong colonies. In our Southern climate, with 
our mild winters and long summers, the moth is a 
much greater pest than it is in colder regions. A 
greater number of millers always follow a mild winter, 
and during such years they show themselves in Feb- 
ruary and March, and keep up a continued series of 
egg-depositing and transformations until November. 
Not moth-proof hives, but strong colonies must be the 
Southern bee-keeper's watchword. 

When the colonies are weak, the bees should not be 
put on more combs than they can cover, and the bot- 
tom boards should be kept clean from dirt and the 
accumulations of wax and pollen. 

There are quite a number of insects that prey either 
upon bees or their stores, but I shall only refer to a few 
that do injury in our climate. There is a large fly be- 
longing to the genus Mallophora that infests some 
apiaries and destroys many bees. It looks very much 
like a large bumble-bee, and flies with great swiftness. 
It takes a position near the hive on some board or 
limb, and when a bee returns laden with honey it is 
pounced upon like lightning by this insect, clasped by 
the legs and carried to some perch where the honey 
sac of the bee is pierced and its contents sucked out. 
The bee is then dropped and the fly is ready for another 
victim. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



Iri some portions of Europe the bees are annoyed by 
a louse called Br aula Coeca, but I have never known 
it to trouble bees in this country, imported queens 
from Italy are nearly always infested with these ver- 
min when taken out of the shipping boxes. I have 
picked off as many as a half-dozen of these lice from a 
single queen. As I have been exceedingly careful to 
destroy them before introducing the queen to the col- 
ony, I have never found any on any queens or bees 
reared in my apiary. These lice live on the bee and 
suck their nourishment from it. 

Ants frequently get into the hive and annoy the 
bees. When they do this they mostly have a nest 
close by. Hunt it up, open it and scald them with 
boiling water. Sprinkle around plentifully lime, and 
the job is completed with a little kerosene painted 
around the bottom of the hive. Wood lice or termites 
sometimes cut galleries in the bottom boards and make 
their nests. Rout them out with kerosene, or by fill- 
ing their passage ways with pearline. 

Roaches at times take up their abode in bee hives to 
feed upon the honey. A dozen of these insects will 
consume during the season as much honey as would 
support a pint of bees. I know of no satisfactory way 
to get rid of these pests except to frequently open the 
hives and kill them by hand. Borax has been recom- 
mended as a remedy, but I have not found it effectual. 

Mice frequently resort to bee-hives during the cold 
days of winter, and make nests above the bee quilt or 
honey board, immediately over the cluster, where they 
can secure the warmth of the bees. When the bees are 
in a quiet condition the mice cut the combs to get the 
pollen which they eat; and they will pick off bees 
from the outside of the cluster and eat the head and 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



thorax and reject the abdomen containing the poison- 
sac and sting. In this way a single mouse can do 
great injury. Keep them out by tacking to entrance 
strips of tin with slots cut in just wide enough to ad- 
mit a bee but not a mouse. Nail these tins on in the 
fall before the mice get in. 

While toads may be of great benefit to the gardener 
in the way of destroying noxious insects, they are an 
injury to the bee keeper. About dark a toad will take 
its position in front of the entrance and although pre- 
senting the picture of innocence, it will take the unsus- 
pecting bee into its capacious mouth with its long 
tongue with lightning rapidity. It does not seem to 
care for stings, but gulps the poor bee down as a sweet 
morsel. 

Spiders are considered by some bee-keepers a benefit, 
as they frequently catch the hee-moth in their webs; 
but my observation has been that when allowed to 
spin their webs about the entrance or any part of the 
hive they catch more bees than moths. Keep your 
hives clean of spider webs. 

Certain birds, as bee-martins, cat birds, sparrows, 
&c, sometimes catch bees, but as they destroy so many 
other insects that injure fruit crops, &c, it is best to 
bear a little with them before we resort to the shot- 
gun, and endeavor to scare them away without kill- 
ing them. My apiary is located amid various trees 
and shrubs, and every season cat bird* and mocking- 
birds come and make their nests and hatch their 
young in the trees. I have watched them, and at 
times I thought I saw them catching bees, when I 
would take my gun and shoot them, and immediately 
cut open their crop, but I always found the remains 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



of bugs and various other insects, but very rarely a 
bee and that nearly always a drone. Hence I now 
never disturb the birds, but let them alone to sing 
their songs, build their nests, and hatch their young 
unmolested. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Bee-Pasturage — Diversity of Mellifluent 
Plants in the Southern States— How to 
Form an Estimate of the Honey- Value of 
a Pl ant— The Proper Conditions for Honey 
Secretion— Southern Honey Flora— Classed 
as to Value— Honey Resources of Florida — 
Honey Dew and Its Formation. 

rT7HE extent and abundance of the honey-pro- 
®X® ducing flora of a country, other conditions 
being equal, must determine whether apicul- 
ture can be successfully and profitably prosecuted in 
that locality. 

Geographically considered, the southern portion of 
the United States is more varied and diversified in 
climate, soil and productions than any other. In the 
mountainous regions of Virginia, North Carolina, 
Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, the climate is cool 
and temperate, and there nearly every plant and fruit 
that is grown in more northern latitudes can be culti- 
vated to perfection. As we proceed southward, the 
climate becomes more mild and genial, until we 
arrive near the Gulf coast, where we approach the 
'■home of the orange." Hence, we perceive that the 
diversified climate of the Southern States admits of 
an immense variety of honey-producing plants. 

To form a correct estimate of the value of many of 
our reputed nectariferous plants, would be a very 
difficult task. In order to arrive at correct conclu- 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



sions as to the worth of a flower to secrete honey, it 
requires no little intelligence and accuracy of observa- 
tion. Most of beginners are too prone to accept for 
truth the nursery rhyme : 

"How doth the little busy bee 

Improve each shining hour, 
And gather honey all the day 

From every opening flower." 

The simple fact of seeing a bee on a flower does not 
prove that it is gathering one particle of honey. It is 
bee-nature to hunt for sweets; and in times of scarcity 
it will visit flowers that it would not touch under 
more favorable circumstances. Hence, many of the 
favorable reports of this or that plant for honey are 
often based upon very hasty and inaccurate con- 
clusions. 

To calculate the value of a plant for honey, we must 
have a sufficient quantity of the same within the im- 
mediate range of our bees in order to enable them to 
work to an advantage The seasons — the atmospheric 
conditions must not be lost sight of. Too much rain 
may wash the saccharine secretions away; a pro- 
tracted drouth may cause its suspension; while a hot, 
dry atmosphere may evaporate the secretion before 
the bees can gather it. 

When there are many forage plants in bloom at the 
same time, bees are mostly seen on the ones yielding 
the most honey; while the rest although secreting 
some nectar, would be nearly neglected. Therefore, 
the honey value of some of the trees, shrubs and 
plants that I shall catalogue as bee forage must 
necessarily be more or less conjectural. 

For the sake of system as well as convenience, I 
shall divide the honey flora into spring, summer and 



90 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

fall forage. The time and duration of bloom are noted 
in most cases for the latitude of Augusta, Georgia. 
North of this point the tinie will be later, and as we 
go South the time will be earlier. 

The earliest blooming of our spring forage plants is 
the alder {alnus), which commences about the middle 
of January and lasts, some seasons, till the middle of 
February. It yields little or no honey, but during 
bloom its pollen-laden catkins are covered with bees. 
The amount of pollen that this plant affords is im- 
mense, and it comes at a time when breeding should 
be most encouraged. 

In some sections of the South, particularly on light, 
sandy soils, there may be found some yellow jasmine 
(ge/seminum sfmpervirem>). As its flowers possess 
very decided toxical properties, it is not a very desir- 
able plant to have in range of ones bees. It blooms 
after the alder, and continues from two to three 
weeks. Black bees are very seldom seen working on 
it; but Italians in some seasons, work on it quite 
briskly. It yields mostly pollen, but very little honey. 
I have more particularly noted this plant because of 
its poisonous effect upon young Italian bees immedi- 
ately after taking their first meal. Since 1871 I have 
observed commencing with the opening of the yellow 
jasmine flowers, that there is great mortality among 
the young bees, which continues until the cessation of 
bloom, when it ceases as quickly as it came. The 
symptoms of the poisoning are: their abdomens be- 
come very much distended, and thej T act as intoxica- 
ted; there is great loss of muscular power, and they 
slowly crawl out of the hive and expire. The deaths 
in strong colonies breeding rapidly in twenty-four 
hours often amounts to a half pint of bees. What 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS.- 91 



little honey the flowers afford, the bees consume in 
breeding, and it is very rarely stored, still I know of a 
few cases of poisoning by eaiingof gelseminum honey. 
By the time the bees secure honey from other forage 
all the jasmine honey, if any, is consumed, and there 
can be no possible chance for mixture with the main 
crop. 

The wild plum usually commences to bloom the last 
of February and continues for two or three weeks. 
Whole acres are often covered with it, forming a 
dense thicket, and ofFording the bees rich pasturage. 
In March we have the peach, wild cherry, and in the 
latter part of the month the apple, huckleberry, 
sparkleberry, blackberry, and other plants of minor 
consideration. Further south they have the ty-ty, 
saw palmetto and orange, and black mangrove along 
the coast. The latter affords an abundance of white 
clear honey of a mild flavor. 

The poplar or tulip tree, {liriodendron tulipifera), 
commences to bloom in April, and continues for about 
three weeks, during which time the bees are kept 
"'booming 7 ' carrying in the sweet nectar. This tree is 
unquestionably the best for forage in the list of south- 
ern honey-flora. The honey, while a little dark, is 
of most excellent flavor. 

The holly blooms last for about two weeks and is at 
its height about the first w T eek in May. The honey is 
light colored and of good flavor. 

In May we have the black gum (nyssa multiflora) 
and the persimmon. Both excellent for forage. The 
blooms of both of these trees are dicecious, that is, the 
male flower is found on one plant and the female 
flower on another. The bees work more on the male 
than they do on the female flowers. 



92 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



The bay (magnolia glauca) in some seasons yields 
large quantities of honey of a good quality. This 
tree flowers for at least one month aud extends into 
June. The magnolia grandiflora, linden and honey- 
locust, also bloom in May. The latter I regard as a 
most valuable forage tree. During its time of bloom 
bees swarm on it the entire day to the neglect of 
other forage. 

The china tree (melia azederach) affords some 
honey. Its period of bloom is about two weeks. 

Sourwood, varnish tree (sterculia platanifolia), 
Japan privit (lugustrum), and a few other plants of 
minor consideration constitute the principle forage in 
June. I have now enumerated the chief honey-pro- 
ducing plants that go to make up our spring harvest. 
Take one season with another, bees commence to lay 
up supplies about the middle of April, and continue 
till middle of June. After this date but little honey 
is gathered till fall. 

There is comparatively little forage during the sum- 
mer months of July and August. The button bush 
( cephalanthusoccidentalis), sumac and asclepiastuber- 
osa (sometimes called butter fly weed), are the most 
important. Sumac yields honey abundantly, but a 
warm, dry atmosphere evaporates it very rapidly so 
that bees only w;ork on it very early in the morning. 

A noxious weed, know as hellenium tenniefolium, 
that has made its appearance in the Southern states 
since the Confederate war, yields a very bitter, yellow 
looking honey. It blooms in July and August, has a 
yellow flower, grows along roadsides and in unculti- 
vated places. It is often taken for a species of dog- 
fennel, but it is altogether distinct. The honey from 
this plant will spoil the flavor of the spring crop if 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 93 



any of the latter is left in the hive. For breeding 
and wintering it answers all the purposes of a better 
article, but it is worthless for market. Bees are very 
rarely seen on this weed after the appearance of fall 
pasturage. 

In some seasons the cotton bloom yields honey, 
which is of a light amber color and of good flavor. 
But generally they gather more pollen than nectar 
from the flowers of this plant. 

Bees work with considerable energy on the cow-pea, 
and gather some honey, though I do not think this 
plant yields large quantities. There is a peculiarity 
in the honey- secreting organs of this plant, in the 
fact that they are contained in little glands located 
on the peduncle or flower-stem and not within the 
flower. 

Goldn rod (solidago) and the asters bloom in Sep- 
tember and continue till frost. In some sections of 
country the golden rod is esteemed a valuable forage 
plant, but my observations do not confirm this idea. 
The aster, while a modest and unpretentious little 
flower, is the most valuable fall forage bloom we have. 
The honey is of a very light amber color and very fine 
flavor. In some seasons the bees store large quanti- 
ties of surplus from this source alone. 

CULTIVATED FORAGE. 

I am satisfied that it will never pay to cultivate 
plants exclusively for the honey. To be profitable, 
they must have other uses besides the honey. Both 
red and white clover do well on our clay and sandy 
loam soils that are sufficiently rich for their growth, 
but it is folly to expect success on light sandy up- 
lands. Alsike and melilot have been successfully 



94 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

grown in a few favored localities where the condi- 
tions for growth have been favorable. It is not only 
difficult to get a stand, but even after a possible stand 
is obtained, the plants are killed during our long, dry 
summer. 

Crimson clover and alfalfa have been tried on both 
clay and sandy loam soil and have proved a success. 

Buckwheat grows well, but it either fails to secrete 
honey during the summer months or the honey is dis- 
sipated by the dry, hot air before the bees can gather 
it. If sown so as to bloom in either spring or fall, it 
comes in competition with plants that are richer in 
nectar, and the bees refuse to work on it. 

Cat-nip, horse-mint, mustard, rape and turnip 
blooms, when cultivated, yield much honey. The 
first two of these plants could profitably be cultivated 
in ail out-of-the-way places. 

When laying out pleasure grounds and planting 
shade trees, it would be advisable to keep an eye to 
utility as well as to ornament. Many of the most val- 
uable and ornamental shade trees are also excellent 
for bee forage. I can especially recommend the pau- 
lonia, catalpa, chinaberry tree, varnish tree and mi- 
mosa I think the most of these beautiful trees are 
natives of Japan, a country to which America is 
greatly indebted for a large number of her most highly 
ornamental trees and plants. 

When we get into the semi-tropical region of 
Florida, the forage, as well as its time of bloom, dif- 
fers from that of higher latitudes. Mr. W. S. Hart, a 
most successful bee-keeper of Hawk's Park, Florida, 
writes: "The first honey flow of the season comes 
from soft maple in January, followed by yellow jas- 
mine, willow and orange blossoms in February and 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



March, which is used for brood raising. April is 
always dry, and but little honey is gathered. About 
the second week in May the gall berry and saw pal- 
metto come in, and give a surplus of fine amber honey 
of heavy body and good flavor. Early in June the 
black mangrove {avicerwia tomentoso) comes in, and 
everything else is neglected by the bees, until the cab- 
bage palmetto (sabetl palmetto) comes in July 
when they gather from both sources. The 
honey however, is so nearly identical that only 
an expert can tell them apart. The last, having a 
trifle more color. I have never seen a handsomer or 
clearer honey than that from the black mangrove, 
and the flavor is mild and very fine. It is a honey 
that every one likes, and will wear without cloy- 
ing on the taste better than almost any honey pro- 
duced in America. Its body is not as heavy as that 
of California sage or white clover, yet it is not lacking 
in that respect if taken after being capped, or cured 
after extracting. It lasts until 1st to 10th of August. 
The cabbage palmetto is about the same date. Then 
comes a honey drouth until the middle of September, 
when wild sunflower, and many other plants give a 
flow that produces some surplus throughout the fall 
and early winter." 

There are some species of aphides or plant lice that 
infest some varieties of trees and shrubs, that eject a 
saccharine excrementitious matter in the form of a 
fine spray that collects on the leaves and plants be- 
neath them. This is called honey dew, and when the 
bees have no other forage, they collect large quantities 
of this honey, but it is a very inferior quality. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Marketing Honey— The People Must be Edu- 
cated to a full Appreciation of the Uses 
of Honey— Strained and Extracted Honey- 
Granulation no Sign of Impurity— How 
to Prepare It for Market— How to Offer 
It— To Whom to Ship— Glutting the Market. 

IN some sections of country it is much easier to pro- 
duce the honey than it is to find a market for it. 
Where such is the case, the producers must bring 
to bear more energy and endeavor to create a market 
for it. There are few places where honey can not be 
sold if proper means are used to call attention to its 
merits. The low dark grades of it are now largely 
used in the arts— by brewers, tobacconists, bakers, 
&c. Educate the tastes of the people to an apprecia- 
tion of it by distributing among them tracts, explain- 
ing its medicinal and culinary uses, and its great 
wholesomeness and superiority over the bulk of the 
common syrups on the market. The most of these 
syrups are vile adulterations of cane syrup with glu- 
cose, too unwholesome to be taken into the human 
stomach. 

The wide-awake bee-keeper will study the demands 
of his market, and then secure his honey in the neat- 
est condition to supply those demands. Some custo- 
mers may want extracted honey, while others will 
have none but comb honey. It will be necessary to 
explain the difference between extracted honey and 



BEF.-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



strained honey. One is honey slung out of the comb 
with a machine by centrifugal force, leaving behind 
the comb, pollen and brood, while the other is strained 
through a cloth or sieve from mashed combs contain- 
ing pollen, larvae, dirt, &c. I regard extracted honey 
more wholesome than comb honey, from the fact that 
the wax is indigestible in the human stomach, and 
would more than likely produce irritation. This is 
why some persons say that honey does not agree with 
them— they eat the wax. 

I find for a near market that it is best to put up ex- 
tracted honey in pint, quart and half gallon vessels. 
Muth's jars are excellent for small packages; so are 
also self-sealing fruit jars and small tin pails or buck- 
ets. Have a neat label with your name on each pack- 
age. 

It must be remembered that nearly all honey will 
gradually granulate in cold weather. Granulation is 
no sign of adulteration; but on the contrary in some 
parts of Europe it is taken as a sign of purity. Gran- 
ulated honey can be reduced to liquid by placing the 
vessels containing it in boiling water. If heated 
above a boil, it will lose its flavor and deteriorate in 
quality. 

Extracted honey should be shipped to distant mar- 
kets in cypress kegs and barrels. These are much 
better than those made out of hard wood. A very 
thin coating of wax or paraffine may be given to the 
inside of the barrel, but a thick coat is worse than no 
wax at all, from the fact that it will crack and break 
loose. A coat of shellac varnish is preferable to wax, 
and is an effectual preventive of leaks; but no inside 
coating can be properly applied unless the vessel is 

(7) 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



perfectly dry on the inside. After the application of 
the coating, the hoops must be driven up tight. 

Comb-honey sells best in small frames or sections 
holding about one or two pounds. When in these 
small neat packages, it is more inviting than when 
offered for sale in bulk in bucket, tubs or barrels, as is 
frequently done by the old style bee-keepers. A per- 
son might be tempted to invest ten or twenty cents 
for a pound or two in a neat section free from daub, 
when he would refuse to invest the same amount for 
honey in an uninviting condition . 

Encourage and build up your home markets. Better 
sell for a little less near home than ship to distant 
markets and pay freights and commissions. Bee- 
keepers frequently consign their honey to ordinary 
grocers and commission merchants who have not the 
remotest idea how to handle honey to the best advan- 
tage. It frequently arrives in bad condition, and then 
it goes to the cellar or back part of the store, out of the 
way, where no one can see it or know that they have 
it. If you want your grocer to handle it profitably to 
yourself, provide him a neat tight glass case in which 
to place it and exhibit it to his customers. 

When shipping to distant markets, first find out the 
responsibility of the party to whom you ship, and his 
capability and facilities for handling the article. If 
you have no way to get at this information, corres- 
pond with producers who effect their sales through 
commissions houses. 

In places where there is only an ordinary demand 
for honey, caution should be used not to glut the 
market. Only offer as much at a time as you can 
readily sell. Offer frequently, and your sales will in- 
crease at a paying price, and during the year a very 
large quantity can be disposed of. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Uses of Honey in Medicinal Preparations— In 
Cooking and in Arts— Remedies for Diseases 
of the Mouth, Throat, Bronchi and Lungs 
— La Grippe and Colds— Receipts for Honey 
Cakes, Ginger Snaps, Cookies, Puddings, 
Vinegar, Metheglin, Mead, &c. 

IN the preparation of many medical compounds 
honey plays a very conspicuous part, and in the 
culinary art it can be made to occupy a most im- 
portant place. In the materia mediea it is classed 
among the vegetable cathartics. It enters into many 
pulmonary and cough mixtures for diseases of the 
throat, bronchi and lungs. When combined with a 
little flour, it is one of the best applications for boils, 
wounds, scalds and burns. It also enters into the 
composition of some of the tooth pastes or dentriflces. 
In order to encourage a more general use of honey, 
I append a few receipts or formulas for the invalid 
and for the kitchen wherein honey forms a prominent 
part. For the most of them I am indebted to the bee 
journals, and some of them I have picked up as waifs 
floating upon the stream of periodical literature, 
while a few I have formulated and proved good under 
my own "vine and fig tree." 

HONEY MOUTH WASH. 

This mixture is excellent in aphthous sore mouth 
of children, and also for cracked tongue: One ounce 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



of sage leaves to a pint of boiling water; 3 scruples of 
borax and 2 ounces of honey. 

FOR APTHOUS AFFECTIONS OF THE MOUTH. 

One drachm of borax rubbed up with one ounce of 
honey. 

For relaxation of the uvula and as an astringent 
wash in mercurial sore mouth: \ ounce alum to 1 
pint of water sweetened with honey. 

HONEY CANDY, 

For la grippe and colds attended with sore throat; 
1 pound granulated sugar, \ pound honey, two 
tablespoonsful decoction of horehound; add enough 
water to wet the sugar; boil without burning until 
it will candy, then add teaspoonful of juniper tar. 

HONEY COUGH MEDICINE. 

It is especially recommended for long standing 
coughs: Extracted honey, linseed oil, whiskey of 
each, 1 pint; mix. Dose, one tablespoonful 3 or 4 
times a day. 

CROUP REMEDY. 

This is good in all cases of mucus and spasmodic 
croup: 

Raw Linseed Oil « 2 ozs. 

Tincture of Blood Root 2 drs. 

Tincture of Lobelia ,... 2 drs. 

Tincture of Aconite \ dr. 

Honey 4 ozs. 

RESIN CERATE. 

For burns, wounds, &c: Rosin, five ounces; 
lard, eight ounces; yellow bees-wax, two ounces. 
Melt together and stir constantly until cold. This 
preparation is most highly recommended. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 101 

HONEY CAKE. 

One pint flour, one tablespoonful of butter, 
one teaspoonful of soda, two teaspoonsfuls of cream 
of tartar, and honey sufficient to make a thick batter; 
spread about an inch thick and bake in a hot oven. 

HONEY SPONGE CAKE. 

One large coffee cup full of honey, one cup of flour, 
5 eggs. Beat yolks and honey together, beat the 
whites to a froth; mix all together, stiring as little 
as possible; flavor with lemon juice or extract. 

HONEY CAKE. 

One quart of extracted honey, one-half pint 
sugar, | pint melted butter, 1 teaspoonful soda dis- 
solved into £ tea cup of warm water, J of a nutmeg, 
and 1 teaspoon of ginger. Mix these ingredients and 
then work in flour and roll. Cut in thin cakes and 
bake on buttered tins in quick oven. 

RAILROAD HONEY CAKE. 

One cup of honey, 1 heaping cup of flour, 1 tea- 
spoonful cream tartar, £ teaspoonful soda, 3 eggs 
and a little lemon juice; stir together 10 minutes. 
Bake in a quick oven. 

GERMAN HONEY CAKE. 

Three and one-half pounds of flour, 1£ pounds of 
honey, £ pound sugar, J pound of butter, J of a 
grated nutmeg, & ounce of ginger, J ounce of soda; 
roll thin, cut in small cakes and bake in a hot oven. 

HONEY FRUIT CAKE. 

Four eggs, 5 cups of flour, 2 cups of honey, 1 teacup- 
ful of butter, 1 cup of sweet milk, 2 teaspoonfuls of 
cream of tarta, 1 teaspoonful of soda, 1 pound of 
raisins, 1 pound of currants, £ pound of citron, 1 tea- 



1Q2 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

spoonful each of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg; bake 
in a large loaf in a slow oven. This will be nice 
months after baking as well as when fresh. 

HONEY LEMON CAKE. 

One cup butter, 2 cups honey, 4 eggs well beaten, 
teaspoonful essence of lemon, half a cup of sour 
milk, 1 teaspoonful of soda, flour enough to make it as 
stiff as can be stirred; bake at once in a quick oven. 

HONEY APPLE CAKE. 

Soak three cups of dried apples over night; chop 
slightly, and simmer in 2 coffee cups of honey, £ coffee 
cup of sugar, 1 coffee cup of melted butter, 3 eggs, 
2 teaspoonsful of soda, cloves^ cinnamon, powdered 
lemon or orange peel, and ginger syrup if you 
have it. Mix all together, add the apples and 
then flour enough for a stiff batter; bake in a slow 
oven. This will make two good sized cakes. 

CHEAP HONEY CAKE. 

One teacup of extracted honey, | teacup of thick 
sour cream, 2 eggs, J teacup of butter, 2 cups flour, 
scanty teaspoon of soda, 1 teaspoon of cream tartar; 
flavor to taste. 

HONEY GINGER CAKE. 

Three cups of flour, 1£ cups of butter; rub well to- 
gether, then add one cup brown sugar, 2 large table- 
spoonsful of ginger, 5 eggs, 2 cups of extracted honey 
and 3 teaspoonsful of baking powder. Beat it well, 
and bake in a square iron pan one hour or more. 

HONEY TEA CAKES. 

Three pounds and a half of flour; 1| pounds of 
honey; £ pound of sugar; J pound of butter; ^ a nut- 
meg grated; 1 tablespoonful of soda dissolved in a little 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 103 

hot water. Roll it a quarter of an inch thick; cut it 
into small cakes, and bake them 25 minutes in a mod- 
erate oven. 

HONEY COOKIES. 

Mix a quart of extracted honey with J a pound of 
powdered white sugar, \ a pound of fresh butter, and 
the juice of two oranges or lemons. Warm these in- 
gredients slightly, just enough to soften the butter, 
and then stir the mixture very hard, adding a 
grated nutmeg. Mix in gradually a pound or less of 
sifted flour, make it into a dough, just stiff enough to 
roll out easy, and beat it well all over with a rolling 
pin; then roll it out into a large sheet half an inch 
thick, cut it into round cakes with the top of a tum- 
bler, dipped frequently in flour, lay them in shallow 
tin pans slightly buttered and bake them. 

HONEY CAKE 

Three cups of honey, 4 cups sour milk, \ cup butter, 
soda to sweeten the milk; mix rather stiff. 

HONEY GINGER SNAPS. 

One pint honey, f pounds of butter, 2 teaspoonfulls 
of ginger, boil together a few minutes, and when nearly 
cold put in flour until it is stiff, roll out thinly and 
bake quickly. 

HONEY PUDDING. 

Three pints thinly sliced apples, 1 pint honey, 
1 pint flour, 1 pint corn meal, small piece but- 
rer, 1 teaspoonful soda, the juice of two lemons and 
thin grated rinds; stir the dry soda into the honey, 
then add the apples, melted butter and a little salt; 
now add the lemon rind and juice and at once stir in 
the flour. Bake one hour. Serve hot or cold with 
sauce. 



104 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

VINEGAR. 

Stir together a half pound of honey and a quart of 
water, permitting the whole to boil while mixing it; 
then expose it to the rays of the sun; covering with 
light muslin to prevent insects from getting in, and in 6 
weeks it will become excellent vinegar, quite as good 
flavored as that made from wine. 

METHEGLIN. 

Honey, fourteen pounds; warm water, three .gal- 
lons; yeast, half gill; two ounces hops boiled in a 
quart of water. Mix the water, after straining out 
the hops, with the rest of the material. Put all into 
a cask or demijohn, and add enough water to make 
the whole four gallons; let it work three days, then 
bottle and tie corks. 

MEAD. 

Twelve gallons water; whites of six eggs; mix well; 
then add twenty pounds of honey; boil one hour; then 
add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary; as 
soon as cold, put one spoonful of yeast in it. Bar- 
rel, keeping the vessel full as it works. After work- 
ing stop close. When fine, bottle for use. 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Apiary Work Planned for the Year. 

rN mapping out the work in the apiary for the year, 
it should be borne in mind thai it is done in refer- 
ence to the latitude of Augusta, Ga. 

In this latitude bees require no special hives or re- 
positories to enable them to pass the winter in safety. 
Double wall and chaff hives are not necessary. 
Neither is it necessary to place them in cellars, caves, 
clamps or pits, as is required in the North, in order to 
carry them safely over the cold winter. Here they 
winter in perfect security on their summer stands 
without any protection whatever. As they can fly 
out every few days during our winters and void their 
faeces, they never suffer from attacks of dysentery, 
a disease that often prevails among the bees during 
wintering in the North. But notwithstanding our 
mild winters, it is essential, in order to secure the best 
results, for our bees to go into winter quarters in 
proper condition if we wish them to come out strong 
in the spring. That they should have sufficient stores 
to supply the demands of the colony, and to carry 
them until the middle of March or first of April is a 
sine qua non. Every good, strong colony will need 
from 20 to 30 pounds of honey to see them safely over 
the winter and bad days of spring. A weak colony 
will consume more honey in proportion than a strong 
one, hence it is best to have in the fall as few of the 
former as possible. 

In October examine all your colonies and if they 



106 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

have not sufficient stores for the winter feed up at 
once. It is now too late to build up weak stocks, 
hence such had better be united. Kemove all sections 
and cover the brood frames with a honey-board hav- 
ing a bee space beneath, or cover with a quilt made 
out of a piece of coarse cloth. Burlaps answer the pur- 
pose most admirably, and I much prefer quilts of this 
material to enamel cloth which cost much more. 

Under the cloth and across the tops of the frames, 
place a couple of short sticks ±o afford a passage-way 
for the bees to pass over the top bars from one comb to 
another without crawling around at an expense of 
animal heat. Tuck the edges of the quilt down tightly 
so no bees can pass above. Tack slotted tins in 
front of the entrance to keep out mice. When thus 
prepared, do not disturb them any more until Febru- 
ary, when it is necessary to examine the condition of 
every hive in order to see what progress has been 
made at breeding, and to clean off all deposits of wax 
and debris on the bottom board. 

Bees will winter safely on their summer stands with- 
out extra protection anywhere south of the latitude of 
Maryland. Of course it is always best to have them 
sheltered from the cold winds by a fence hedge or 
break. Farther north they should have some extra 
protection. Double walled hives with space packed 
with chaff, or some nonconducting substance, are now 
pretty generally conceded by northern bee-keepers 
to be the best for their winters. The bees are wintered 
in these hives on their summer stands. On the other 
hand, cellar wintering is practiced just as successfully 
by others. Successful wintering does not depend so 
much upon in-doors or out-doors, as it does upon an 
observance of the conditions upon which the health 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 107 

and integrity of the bees depend. First, the colony 
must have from twenty to thirty pounds of honey well 
cured and of good quality. In the South the quality 
of the stores is not as important as it is in cold climates. 
The hive or repository should be free from damp, and 
maintained at a temparature of about 45°. The place 
should be kept dark, and the bees free from all jars and 
sudden motions. 

Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, in his work on "Advanced 
Bee-Culture'', remarks on wintering bees in the North, 
that, "unless the cellar is well under ground, where it 
is well beyond the influence of the outside temperature, 
it is well to keep watch and not allow the temperature 
to run too low in protracted cold spells. A lamp stove 
burned all night in a cellar will raise the temperature 
several degrees. During the fore part of winter a low 
temperature is not so dangerous as it is toward spring, 
when brood rearing has commenced. From 35° to 45° 
will do very well until towards spring, when it should 
not be allowed to go below 40°, and may with safety 
go as high as 48° or 50°. In this connection it must be 
remembered that moisture has an influence upon the 
effects of temperature. So far as effects are concerned 
a moist atmosphere is the equal of a low temperature. 

If the cellar is moist, either raise the temperature or 
remove the moisture. Unslacked lime in the cellar 
will absorb moisture. Even when the influence of 
moisture has been considered, it will not answer to tie 
ourselves to a certain temperature. It is the tempera- 
ture inside the hives that affect the welfare of the bees. 
If the colonies are weak, their hives open and the 
brood nest uncontracted, a higher degree of heat is 
needed than with strong colonies in close, well pro- 
tected hives. Putting colonies near the top of the 



108 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 



cellar will help matters some as the air is warmer 
there. The best guide in regard to this matter of tem- 
perature is the behaviour of the bees themselves. If 
they are closely, quietly and compactly clustered, 
there is but little cause for alarm in regard to the 
temperature. Quite a number have reported excellent 
results by warming up the bee-repository to summer 
heat, say once a week or ten days; if the bees become 
uneasy toward spring. This enables the bees to throw 
off any surplus moisture, and, as the temperature goes 
down, they quiet down and remain so for several days, 
when they may be warmed up again. So long as the 
bees remain quiet, I should not disturb them by arti- 
ficial heat. If the cellar becomes too ivarm in the 
spring, before it is time to remove the bees, it may be 
cooled down by carrying in snow or ice, or the win- 
dow or doors may be opened at night and closed in the 
morning." 

"Years ago many bee-keepers practiced taking their 
bees from the cellar if there came a warm day in the 
winter, and allowing them to fly, returning them 
again to the cellar, but this practice has been pretty 
nearly abandoned. If the bees are in a quiet, normal 
condition it often arouses them and sets them to breed- 
ing in mid-winter, which is far from desirable. If the 
food, temperature and other surroundings are what 
they ought to be, such a flight is not needed. If they 
are very faulty, such a flight will not save the bees 
from death." 

"If bees out of doors are properly protected and 
have abundant stores, they need no care in winter, 
unless it is to see that the entrances are not clogged 
with ice, snow or dead bees when there comes a day 
warm enough for them to fly. If a rim two inches 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 109 

wide is put under each hive when they are packed in 
the fall, and an entrance made at the upper edge of 
this rim, the entrance will never be clogged with 
dead bees." 

"In my opinion," continues this writer, "food is 
the pivotal point upon which turns the wintering 
of bees in our Northern States. Food is the fulcrum, 
and temperature the long end of the lever." 

"The whole question in a nut shell is just this: The 
loss of bees in winter, aside from that caused by diar- 
rhoea is not worth counting. It is diarrhoea that kills 
our. bees. What causes it? An overloading of the 
intestines with no opportunity for unloading them. 
Cold confines the bees to their hives. The greater the 
cold the larger are the quantities of food consumed to 
keep up the animal heat. The more food there is con- 
sumed, the sooner are the intestine? overloaded. 
Doesn't it seem clear that the character of the food 
consumed would have an effect upon the amount of 
accumulation in the intestines? In the digestion of 
cane sugar there is scarcely any residue. Honey is 
generally quite free from nitrogenous matter, being 
well supplied with oxygen, and when free from float- 
ing grains of pollen is a very good and safe 
winter food, although not as good as properly 
prepared sugar syrup, which never contains 
nitrogen but does possess more oxygen. The excrete 
from diarrhetic bees is almost wholly pollen grains, 
in a digested or partly digested state, with a slight 
mixture of organic matter. What overloads the in- 
testines of the bees is this nitrogenous matter that they 
consume, either as grains of pollen .floating in the hon- 
ey, or by eating the bee-breacl itself." 

Winter is the best time to order hives and material 



110 BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS. 

for the apiary. At this season supplies can generally 
be bought cheaper; and it gives time for delays in ship- 
ping, and time for the bee-keeper to properly set up 
his hives and paint them, so as to be ready when he 
wants to use them. It is a great mistake to wait till 
swarming time or till the honey harvest has com- 
menced before you order your supplies. 

The long winter evenings ofter an excellent time to 
read up on bee-culture — to read the periodicals and 
books pertaining to the subject. 



■THE^ 



American Bee Journal, 



ISSUED EVERY WEEK AT $1 A TEAR. 



SAMPLE COPY FREE. 



DEPARTMENTS. 

Contributed Articles. ■ 

Convention Proceedings. 
Questions and Answers. 
Beedom Boiled Down. 
Editorial Comments. 
The Weekly Budget. 
Biographical. 
General Items. 
Question Box. 
Market Quotations, Etc. 

Everything that any bee-keeper requires in the 
line of bee literature outside of a good bee-book. 
Better try The Bee Journal a year. Dr. Brown 
can recommend it. Address 

GEORGE W. YORK & CO., 

118 Michigan St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



a 



SWARM YOUR BEES 

WITH THE 

Success" Sprayer 

AND 

"Bordeaux" Nozzle. 




The engraving represents the "SUCCESS" Kerosene Emul- 
sion Sprayer, which makes kerosene emulsion in the act of 
spraying. Full directions furnished with each machine. 

THE KEROSENE TANK CAN BE DETACHED 

so that the Sprayer can be used with clear water, or with 
spraying mixtures in the ordinary way. 

This outfit is useful in exterminating the scale insects on 
orange and other fruit trees. 

Thirty-six-page Catalogue of Spray Pumps, Nozzles and 
appliances on application. 

THE MOST COMPTETB AND BEST TINE OF SPRAY 
PUMPS MANUFACTURED. 

THE DEM1NG COMPANY, Salem, Ohio. 



GO 

ffu, 



CO 



GO 






I3CJ 




m 


C/) 


e— • 


m 

2 

a 


**1 


"M 


nri 


_- -f 


© 


^ 


*>. 


fr-j 




£* 


o 


•—3 


53 


;AhsH 


o 




c 


CA) 


r 


CB» 


> 


*-d 


73 


■tt* 




« 



RICHARD PETERS' 

STOCK FARM, 

CALHOUN, GA. 






Great Reduction in Essex Hogs 

FROM IMPORTED BOARS. 

Having on hand an unusually fine lot of Essex Pigs, I have 
decided to reduce the price to suit the times. 

Anyone wishing to secure the best and cheapest HOG that 
can be found will do well to send me an order or to call at 
Farm and make a selection. Terms Cash with order. Pigs 
boxed and delivered at the depot in Calhoun free of charge. 

Address, N. P. BLACK, Manager, . 

(8) 652 Peachtree St. , Atlanta, Ga. 



DCS 
U-J 
CO 



CO 



^ 



en 

OS 
o 



o 

O '5 

o *~ 



5 1 £ - 






3 § 

cu 

-d | 

<u ft 

S .9 



£ I 





— 


f APPl 

standard 
ROSES 


cu 

.Q 






£ 






. 


CO 


o 






o 
o 


c 

CO 


si rt S 


a 

CO 

s 




en 
>> 

CO 




s~ 
o 

< 

O 


S3 - CO 

1 1 


o 
> 


o 


'- 


g 


4h 




3 




S "5 ^ 


a 


CJ 


Z 




a w ^ 
1 ^ &i 


O 


ft 


c 




2 fc 


CJ 

o 


rt 

s 






u ^ % 


to 


o 


CO 




5 0^ 


in 


Td 


CD 

o 

< 




^ Pi 5 

1 ^ OQ 


o 
o 


~<u 

"3 

a 

to 

CD 


O 
O 
O 




£ § £ 


4) 

to 


p 

o 
13 

ci 


^S 




ps r * 








§ "a 
o « 



3 






•0 

CJ 
« 

»i 

© 

s 



FOR BEST AND SUREST RESULTS 

BUY 

S trawberry « P lants 

Grown by Specialists who have devoted many years exclu- 
sively to improving and breeding up the Strawberry, 
in a region where it attains unrivalled 
perfection. 

Standard Varieties, $1.25 Per 1,000. 

With the largest stock of choice Strawberry Plants in the 
world (20 to 30 million), a perfect mode of light pack- 
ing, and a special low express rate, we can 
and will deliver plants lower than 
anyone else. 



Valuable Treatise on Strawberry Growing 

FREE TO BUYERS. 

Illustrated Catalogue and Copy of 

Strawberry Specialist, 

the only paper in the United States exclusively devoted 

to the Strawberry, free to all. 

Send for estimates. We will not be undersold. 

Quality and Condition of Plants Absolutely 

Guaranteed. 



Continental Plant Co., 

KITTRELL, N. C. 
0. W. BLACKNALL, - - President and General Manager. 




The best shipper and the largest Watermelon 
grown in the United States; grown all over the 
South the past season; many specimens weighing 
from 80 to 100 pounds each. liberal prizes offered 
for the largest melon grown in 1898. Write for 
particulars; also testimonials. Catalogue free. I 
have all varieties of melon seed for sale at reason- 
able prices. 

Giant Beggar Weed, 

The great Southern Forage Plant. No farmer can afford to be 
without it. Write for price of seed, with full particulars, to 

TXT. M. oiRAiei>:E>^:cj, 

riONTICELLO. FLA. 



PWWWWW 


t>WV>rvwv^%r 




•^Vvvw-v v-y^-vj 


I 


»-H 




■» J 


c 


»^( 




0) 5 


> 


a 




»-* 2 


j 




C8 


idgevil 
laware 


i 


S 


3 




1 


s 


^ 






o 

CO 


<5J 


55 il 


i; c« 


§ 


* 


O 




8 


9 « 


GO i 1 


\> a jj 


^ <W 


c$ >u 


Jl 


fe a 




kson 
r frui 


^ ! 


Milh 
Coin 


Triu 
asso: 


Wic 

othe 




I 1 
• 1 


i 


■ 


b ' 


! : CQ 


i 


s 


,QJ : 


fa 

0) 


0) 
C8 


*1 


: ^ 






o >> ! 


ce 






o tn j? ; 


: Q 






S3 § : 

o £ S • 


AAAAiAAAAAA 






UWWWk JWIAAAAA 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

■P 

002 837 412 3 



